(DISCONTINUED) Mask (old version)
by TheMissingPhoenix
Summary: I have lived in this despicable world for too long...and yet I keep enduring it... I am surrounded by pitiful humans who all like to put on a doll face for others to see in order to gain positive attention. In the sea full of fakes and liars, accessories and masks, I have lost hope to see the other side...until he came. Inspired by the game Yandere Simulator.
1. Chapter 1

**Hello, welcome to my second Yandere Simulator fanfiction. This will be my first time writing a chaptered story, so please help me improve the plot by writing reviews. Please note that there might be many grammar mistakes because I am a thirteen-year-old Chinese girl going to school in America. Thank you very much.**

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 _"When you hear my rival's shrill cry, a person, high-born, will die; a murder, quite often, is what fills the coffin, then under the turf she will lie," said a teenage girl with bloody clothes and a twisted smile, "But...what vengeful screams can be lifted from a severed tongue?"_

 _Then slowly, she turns on the heavy circular saw in her hands and approaches her victim that is lying on the ground, lifeless._

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"Have you ever heard of the story about the ghost in the restroom? I've heard rumors about the ghost being one of the victims from 1980's high school massacre, and it takes place right here in Akademi! People say that she hides in the girl's bathroom on the third year's floor!" Inkyu Basu exclaimed to her older sister while tying her long, flamboyant, magenta hair into pigtails.

The mature beauty with long, violet hair and long eyelashes takes out a small box from a drawer and opens it, taking out a pair of contact lenses. "Oh? Is that so? Who told you this nonsense?" She puts a contact on the tip of her slim, long pointer finger while looking at her own reflection in the mirror. "These children are only in high school, delusions and creative imaginations are not strange."

"Ehh? But Sis, you're-"

Sakyu Basu puts her pointer finger on her sister's lips to shush her. "My dear Inkyu, this is merely a simple game...with the humans. I'd like to enjoy my time here as much as I can." She opened her eyes, revealing the brilliant yellow contacts on her eyes. "Let's go, I do not wish to be late on the first day of the new school year. Missing out interesting things is definitely not my way of doing things..." she smiled mysteriously.

Inkyu looked at her with a questioning look, then picked up her backpack and left their house with her sister by her side.

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The girls love to gossip about new topics in Akademi High School while doing each other's hair. New rumors happening in Buraza Town are usually spread around on Mondays, then students around will discuss them and quickly forget about old rumors. Of course, not all girls like to mind someone else's business. Every student here has their own unique ways of spending time when class did not start, yet.

Ayano Aishi is one of them.

She arrives at 7:00 a.m every morning, exactly an hour and thirty minutes before class starts. She will sometimes talk to students only to compliment them or show them something she found interesting. She has an average face, normal black hair tied in a ponytail, and was never seen chatting with another student or two. A strange girl, indeed.

Today is the start of a new school year, where Ayano Aishi becomes a second year student. She stared at her phone while sitting on the edge of the fountain in the central of the school building, scrolling through her phone to look through the informations of all of the students and faculty members of this school. Ayano's blank eyes scanned through each of their faces, or what she calls as "fake masks". In her view, humans are all fake and cruel. They all put on a pretty doll face just so others can like them, can accept them, so they won't be left alone. She scoffed, what kind of happiness can be sought if your eyes are blinded by darkness behind a plastic mask?

Sighing, the girl stands up and pats the dust from the fountain off of her skirt and heads to her own classroom on the second floor. On the way she glances inside the clubrooms as the members will participate in club activities before class starts. It seems like the only two clubs are currently active, and they are the martial arts club and the infamous occult club. Ayano decided to check out the martial arts club, which in on the second floor like her classroom.

The floor of the dojo is covered by tatami, and in the center there is a huge matt to make it easier to fight. Two students, a brown-haired boy and a brown-haired girl, are sparring on the matt while the two other members knelt down on each side of the changing room to watch them spar. All of them have their uniforms on and a special headband with Japanese characters written on them. There are four huge flower vases, one in each of the corners of the room. A few traditional Japanese paintings hung on the walls as decoration. Windows on the opposite wall of the entrance allowed sunlight to lighten up the darkness.

"HAH! TAKE THAT!" the brown-haired girl releases a battle cry and gets on her knees, then extended one leg and spun, tripping her opponent and watches as his back hits the ground. She then stood up and crossed her arms with a smug grin. "You lost, Sho. Again."

The boy she knocked down sat up slowly and rubbed the back of his head with a pained expression, "Oh shut up, Mina... Everyone knows you're a gorilla when it comes to sparring..."

Mina's right eye twitched, then she gave him an angelic smile and approached him. But Sho only backed up from the horrifying aura she gives off. The other boy with copper hair that was one of their two observers stopped him and pointed a finger at Ayano. "Um...guys, we have a visitor watching us. Not a good idea to start a fight now..."

Ayano then realized he was talking about her. She groaned in annoyance inside her mind.

Mina gave her a smile, "Come in, you don't have to talk to us outside of the room." But before Ayano could step in, a boy who's taller than every member of the club stepped out. He has a red band around his arm, with the Japanese characters "club leader" written on it. Clearly, he is the leader of this club. He has black hair, a headband on his head, a pair of grey eyes, and his uniform is also worn on him.

"Welcome to the martial arts club! My name is Budo Masuta, leader of this club. What brings you here?" he welcomed her.

But Ayano is not curious at all. She did not want to have anytime wasted on discussing participations in a boring and useless club. But she merely replied with an uncaring tone, "I'm just checking this place out. I have no intentions of joining a club at this moment."

Though not that noticeable, Budo Masuta had a hint of disappointment in his tone and expression, "Well...you are always welcomed to have any second thoughts! The martial arts club is opened for anyone, anytime."

Ayano nodded, then bowed as a sign of goodbye. Then she turned around to head to her own classroom.

Another day with a school of liars.

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For every forty-five minutes of class, there will be a ten-minute break for students to prepare for the next class. Ayano decided to get up and use the restroom to wash her face with cold water, only to be stopped by a student with long, straight, green hair. She is Midori Gurin, an annoying girl who asks teachers and students very stupid questions constantly.

Midori walked up to her with a huge stack of papers in her arms.

"Ayano-chan, Ayano-chan! Um, Miss Nana wanted me to deliver these papers to the faculty office, but...I have no idea where it is! Could you do me a favor and help me, pleaaase?"

"By 'helping you', you mean 'do it for you', am I right?" Ayano sneered.

The green-haired girl laughed nervously and scratched the back of her head. "You don't mind...right? Ayano-chan is kind and sympathetic, right? Ayano-chan would never like to see her friend suffering from a deadly mission alone, right?"

The second year only gave her an annoyed look. She takes the entire stack of paper and made sure to balance it carefully. "Also, quit sending me emails about questions that I already answered you multiple times and explained them thoroughly. It is extremely annoying, and I cannot get my homework done before 12:00 a.m."

As expected, Midori runs off before even listening to everything she said.

Sighing, Ayano turns around and travels downstairs. But on the second step of the second set of stairs going down, she stepped on empty space by accident, which leads her to trip and roll down the stairs. Unfortunately, all of the papers are now scattered all over the floor.

She cringed and flinched as she tries to sit up. Her shin hurts badly from bumping the edge of the stairs. "M-My ankle..." she managed to choke out from enduring the pain. Her right ankle is either bruised or twisted. The latter seems to have a bigger chance.

"Oh my goodness, a-are you okay?!" a male voice said. Ayano hears his footsteps approaching her. She looks up and sees a boy whom seems like a third year student with natural black hair and grey eyes. "I heard something tumbling from the stairs, so I came to check it out."

Ayano used all of her strengths to push herself up from the floor. She crouches down to pick up the pieces of paper she dropped off of the floor. The senior also started helping her. Ayano looked at him with a surprised look.

"Alright, be careful next time, okay?" the boy said as he puts the stack of paper he picked up onto Ayano's stack. "Hmm...this seems to be a lot of work... I'll help you carry half. Where are you heading, the student council room?"

The girl shook her head, "Th-The f-faculty room..." she stuttered.

Smiling, the senior picked up half of the stack and began heading to the faculty office. Finally conscious, Ayano hurried and picked up the remaining and catches up with him.

They walked in silence as they head to their destination.

"...Why did you help me...?" she suddenly asked.

"Pardon?" the senior gave her a questioned look.

"Are you expecting something in return...? If so, I don't need your help."

"Pfft, why would I want anything in return?"

Ayano snapped her head and turned to look at him with widened eyes.

He continued to talk as if it were normal, "I'm saying, why would I expect to have rewards for doing something I am supposed to be doing? Since young, we were taught to help out others and expect nothing in return. Because one day, all your good deeds will be rewarded . I'm sure your hard work pays off in the end."

For the first time, Ayano's eyes starts to show reflections of the images she sees. Her irises glimmered and trembled, as if she was touched by his words.

They soon arrive at the faculty room. There were no teachers in there at all, so Ayano presumed they went to the restrooms. She sets down the stack of papers she's holding, next to the senior's. She noticed how he is about a head taller than her, and his skin is almost as pale as hers. Ayano can tell that his personality is rather soft and gentle, not as wild as most other boys in the school.

"By the way, my name is Taro Yamada. If you ever need help, feel free to come talk to me!" he offered with a smile that showed his teeth. Ayano's chest suddenly felt very tight, but not in an uncomfortable way. She finds his voice soothing and his smile endearing.

Ayano watches Taro's back as he walks away, going upstairs. For some reason, she felt a strong desire to keep him as hers. A twisted smile stretches on her mouth, her eyes wide as saucers, and her cheeks are covered with a mysterious shade of pink.

 _'THERE IT IS! A REAL PERSON! A PERSON WITHOUT A MASK!'_

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 **A/N: This will be the end of chapter 1. I am very thankful to everyone who enjoyed my first Yandere Simulator fanfiction, " His Words". I wrote that story to give Ayano a pure and innocent side, therefore it was easier to write a romance out of the prompt. But for this one, I wanted to give Ayano a sociopath self before, then a sick and twisted personality after she met Taro. This is inspired by the manga/anime named "Aku no Hana", and the character named Sawa Nakamura is used as a reference to develop Ayano's sociopath personality. Please help me edit my mistakes and/or give me your suggestions on how you want the story to develop.**


	2. Chapter 2

**A new chapter... Please enjoy if you can. ~Phoenix**

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 _"The more I look at people, the more I hate them..." the girl says as approaches her victim. "So then...give up your human mind, will you?" she added as she raises the sword in her hands and slashes down._

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Ayano leans against the railing and crosses her arms on it to support her body so she can see the view. From the rooftop, she can see that many students have their backpacks on and leaving the school grounds. They all had their own little group or partner to chat with, each person has a happy smile on their faces.

She wants to tear them off.

All of those fakes and liars, Ayano wanted to make them speak out their true feelings straightforwardly. What is so difficult about telling people your thinkings? If the ones they call "friends" are people who accept them for who you are, then surely they would also accept different opinions.

...Or are they only interested in the positive and no backbone side of you? Liars all deserve to be punished into the deepest, darkest realms of the world. Liars should all be eliminated.

That is what Ayano Aishi thinks.

Her eyes immediately caught a glance of the senior named Taro Yamada, someone she views as a real person who does not wear a mask. Her heart skipped a beat, and her face reddens. But soon her expression darkens when she saw a girl a bit shorter than her who has long, orange hair tied in pigtails with pink bows that has white polka dots on them runs up to Taro and clings to his arm. She watches him as he leaves the school gates with that wench.

Who is that ugly cockroach clinging her dirty paws onto Taro? _Her_ Taro? Is she his girlfriend? His sister? His relative? Why was he smiling when talking to her? Ayano's heart tightened in discomfort.

How can one person affect her emotions so much? That, Ayano cannot, and probably will not, understand.

Suddenly, she hears footsteps behind her, slowly getting closer and louder.

"Hey," a female's voice says. Ayano turns around and sees a girl with ruby red hair and eyes, black-rimmed glasses sat on the bridge of her nose. The way light reflects off of the lenses plus the mischievous grin on her mouth made her seem mysterious. Ayano did not have a good feeling about this girl.

"Do I know you?" she asked.

"I saw you stalking an upperclassman today," the stranger pointed out.

"Do you have a problem with that?"

"No, I wanted to give you some information about the girl he was with." This caught Ayano's attention. She took out her phone and scrolled through the student profiles, trying to find the orange-haired girl. Before she could find her, the stranger said, "Her name is Osana Najimi. She has a crush on him. She believes in the myth about the cherry tree behind the school."

Ayano remembered hearing two girls talking about this myth. It was during lunch time when they sat on a bench on the rooftop, one is crying and being comforted by the other. The memories of their dialogue are unclear, but the crying girl seemed like she got rejected by a boy she had feelings for. "The myth that if you...confess your love to someone underneath the tree on a Friday, they are guaranteed to accept their feelings?" Ayano asked.

"Correct. She's planning to confess to him next Friday."

"Why are you telling me this?"

"I would be glad if something bad happened to Osana-chan. I think you might be the right person to give her what she deserves," the girl replied with a smirk. Her lenses glowed from the sunlight.

"Who are you?"

"I'm the person nicknamed Info-chan at school."

Info-chan? Isn't she the one who is supposed to be head of the mysterious "info" club? "I've heard rumors about you. You blackmail girls and sell panty shots to boys. Nobody knows your real name."

"The rumors are true." Info-chan replied casually, making Ayano cringe in disgust. "If you ever need a favor, text me a panty shot and I will give you whatever support I can. If you want to know personal information about anyone at our school, just send me a photograph of their face, and I'll tell you whatever I know about them."

"You're disgusting," Ayano commented and turned her back to Info-chan to continue looking at the sunset.

"You're a stalker," the redhead shot back, "If you want my help, text me. If you don't care, ignore me. You have one week before your precious senpai belongs to Osana-chan."

Info-chan walks next to her and also leans against the railing, her chin on her palm which is supported by the elbow. Her other hand is placed on the railing. Her eyes averted to glance at Ayano. She smiled and added, "I hope you make her suffer..."

Ayano's expression remained blank as she watches Info-chan leave the roof. Then she noticed a shining object is placed on the railing where her hand was.

It was a knife.

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"I-It was great yesterday, thank you so much for the birthday presents, Ryuto-kun...!"

"Um, y-yeah! I'm glad you enjoyed them, really, I do... I-I sure hope we can hang out alone sometime during the break."

"Yes, um, I think that would be great!"

"Yeah, um, I-I'll be going to class now!"

"Oh, y-yes, I should also get ready... S-See you!"

"S-See you, too, Ryuto-kun!"

The black-haired, green-eyed girl with pink bangs smiled nervously and waved the young boy with wild, dark red, spiky hair and a red bandanna goodbye as runs upstairs to his classroom as fast as he can. The girl named "Pippi" then patted her chest and cheeks to calm herself down. Her heart was nearly exploding just earlier when talking to the "Ryuto" guy.

Ayano watched them from afar with a bored expression. She can feel it; that girl is trying to put on a cute act to capture the boy's heart, and the boy is restraining his lustful thoughts so the girl can only see the innocent side of him. _'Stupid teenagers and their fake love...'_

The cherry blossom trees glowed a brilliant pink color under the sunlight outside of the school building. Petals float within the breeze, decorating the fresh dirt. The smell of a sea of flowers in the spring invites Monday to come with welcoming arms.

 _'How colorful...'_ Ayano thought, shielding her eyes with her arm from the sun, _'How pure... Too pure for this world...and for me...'_

Just as she was about to head back in the building, she noticed a senior by the name of Saki Miyu is wandering around the fields, as if she is looking for something. She is wearing an anxious expression on her face, and her hand is twirling her long, turquoise hair nervously.

Ayano walked up to her and patted her on the shoulder, asking, "Is there anything you need, Miyu-senpai?"

Saki jumped and turned around, a surprised look on her face. Then her expression changed into an embarrassed one, "Well...actually...there is something that I need help with... This is ...really embarrassing...but...well...I lost...my bra...somewhere at school...and I can't find it anywhere..."

Ayano deadpanned, "...Excuse me? A bra? How in the world-"

"D...Don't ask me why my bra is missing! It's a long story, okay?" Saki immediately cuts her off.

She closed her mouth and continues to listen in silence. "The point is, if you find a bra lying around, it's mine, and I would really appreciate it if you'd return it to me!"

Ayano hesitated for a moment, with Saki continuously saying, "Oh, god...this is so embarrassing..." But when she saw Taro Yamada walking past them, a smile stretches on her mouth. _'That's right! Perhaps I can use this girl and get rid of anyone standing between my precious Taro-senpai and me!'_ she thought.

Seeing the girl in front of her not talking for a while, Saki suddenly felt hopeless. She puts up one hand, motioning "stop", and said, "If you don't want to, that's fine... Ugh...why did I even bring that up..."

Ayano gave her a fake assuring smile, "No, I've decided...that I will help you."

The turquoise-haired girl brightens up with a huge smile, "You'll look for it? Thanks! I hope you find it..."

And with that, Ayano ignored her feelings on how troublesome this task will be and runs off to look for the bra.

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Osana Najimi is not an honest person, and she is aware of that herself. Her pride will not allow her to put down her strong barrier and show her kind heart. But that did not mean she never truly cared about other people.

Her childhood friend, Taro Yamada, is the first one to reach to her heart and not run away after her showing an aggressive, dishonest side. He remained being her only true and best friend. Unlike her, Taro is sweet, honest, and likable. Someone like him...could never fall for her... Thinking about this, Osana's eyes slowly looked at the ground, her lips pursed.

"Is anything wrong?" the senior next to her asked with a heartwarming smile.

She jumped, then smacked her friend on the back of his head, "D-Don't scare me like that, i-idiot!"

Taro rubbed his head and sucked air through his teeth, hissing in pain, "I-I just saw that you were staring into space, I was only trying to help..."

"Hmph!" Osana turned away from him and crossed her arms, "Well I didn't need you to!" Though her words are harsh, her heart is pounding against her chest in excitement. A streak of pink rose on her cheeks.

As they passed the school's entrance, Osana's eyes gazed at the tall and beautiful cherry blossom trees, many thought flew into her head at once. If she tells him her feelings under the one behind the school on the hill, will he gladly accept it? Or will he harshly reject it? The myth...is true...right?

He will be hers, right?

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After almost twenty minutes of searching, Ayano finally found Saki's bra behind the hill where the mythical cherry tree is. How did it get here? That, Ayano will never know, and will never want to know.

Ayano picks it up and folds it so no one will see it, then she runs back to the school building. At the entrance, she sees who seemed like Saki Miyu's best friend, Kokona Haruka. Her drill-shaped pigtails swung as she moves her head when talking to her cellphone. Moving closer but out of her sight, Ayano listens closely to her conversation.

"Hello?" she answered anxiously, then her eyebrows furrowed in annoyance, "Ugh, I told you not to call me when I'm at school! ...Like I said, that was a one-time thing! I don't wanna do that again!"

Ayano raises an eyebrow in confusion, then she moved closer but behind the door Kokona stands next to, "...H-How much did you say? ...Well...if it's just...one more time...then I guess it's okay..." Ayano widened her eyes in shock. The girl continued her conversation, not noticing she is being stalked, "How about tonight? Where we met last time? In Shisuta Town? Okay then...see you tonight." The phone hung up, making beeping sounds. Kokona buried her face into her hands in shame, almost on the verge of tears, "Ugh...I can't believe I'm doing this..."

 _'Compensated...dating?'_ Ayano thought to herself. The same twisted smile as the first time she met Taro Yamada appears on her face. ' _SHE'S A PERVERT...! JUST LIKE ME...! SHE IS A PERVERT!'_ She slowly walks out of her hiding spot.

Kokona begins to head back to her circle of friends at the plaza, but was stopped by the dangerous girl. Ayano held her phone up with one hand and says, "Greetings, Senpai, I am a member of the photography club, and I am here to take photos of students for the school's yearbook!"

With a confused and doubtful face, Kokona asks, "You are from the photography club? But...don't they usually use the school's SAIKOU camera to take pictures?"

"Oh, you are absolutely correct! But unfortunately, the camera given to me has ran out of batteries, therefore I can only text the photos I took to my fellow club members, so we can still use it!"

"But...can't you just-"

Without letting her finish, Ayano gives her a sweet smile and holds her phone up horizontally, "Say cheese!"

Kokona was not ready to pose, so she made an awkward expression at the camera, waiting for Ayano to snap a picture. A few seconds later, Ayano gives her an assuring smile and tells her the picture has been taken. Kokona bowed slightly as a way to show thanks, then she turns around to head back to the plaza.

Ayano opens up Info-chan's contact and sends her the picture of Kokona Haruka. A very short moment after, Info-chan sends her the girl's name, assumed reputation, personality type, crush, club, and the additional information of her having the possibility of engaging in a compensated dating in Shisuta Town, Buraza Town's neighbor. Her eyes immediately became hollow and her smile faded when she saw Kokona's crush. It was Taro Yamada. _Her_ Taro-senpai.

She snapped.

"By the way, Haruka-senpai..." she says in a lower tone than before, her head lowered, her expression unknown, and her eyes are covered by her bangs.

Kokona turned around, "Yes?"

Ayano slowly walks up to her, then raises her head. She has a huge grin. Her pupils are a lot smaller than before, almost made her look like a maniac, "I heard it. I heard everything! That you apparently have to "do" something with another person that involves money in Shisuta Town!"

Everything around Kokona's world seems to collapse and break into shards of glass. Her ears cannot hear anymore sounds, just like underwater. Her world became black and white. Her eyes are as wide as saucers. Her lungs felt like they stopped working, and her heart skipped multiple beats. "Wh-What...are you...talking about...?" she managed to choke out.

Ayano's cheeks turned pink as her grin widens in her own amusement, "Could it be that...Haruka-senpai...is a prostitute?"

"NO!" Kokona launches herself on top of Ayano, and they both land on the ground with a _'THUD'_. Kokona's four limbs supported her both on the ground, and beneath her, Ayano laid on her back, still smiling. "I-I-I'm not... I'M NOT!" Kokona screamed, tears starting to flow out of her eyes.

"Why are you ashamed?" Ayano asks, "This is something you've always been, right? Why would you ever deny such fact? In my eyes..." she pauses, and reaches out a hand and caressed the girl on top of her's cheek, "Your perverted soul is far more precious than any of the mask-wearers they laid on."

"I-I'M NOT A PERVERT! SHUT UP!"

"My... You are persistent, aren't you? Why can't you just accept who you truly are? Why will you keep this a secret from your so-called "friends", huh? They are your friends, right? Go on, tell them what kind of person you really are. Your friends...they definitely won't judge you...right?" Her fingers slid across Kokona's face, then landed on right below her left eye, "Take off this plastic mask you are wearing... You trust them, don't you? ...Or is it..." her eyes glimmered, "...because you are sorry for being the pitiful being you are?"

Kokona's throat went dry, "No...that's...not t-true...!"

"Still trying to deny it? Then let us make a deal..." Ayano lifts her head off of the ground a little so her mouth is near Kokona's left ear, "Maybe if you tell your friends yourself, I can get you out of your misery...and maybe get rid of your horrible father..."

Gasping in horror, Kokona jumped back and landed on her bottom. She scoots back, away from the dark-haired girl in front of her, "W-Where'd you hear that? WHERE DID YOU HEAR THAT?!"

"Shh..." Ayano stands up, bends over, and places one slim pointer finger on the terrified girl's quivering cherry lips, "Perhaps you should be more careful about your surroundings... Haruka-senpai~" And with a spine-chilling giggle, Ayano walks around her and begins to head to the plaza.

Her victim that she left behind is completely paralyzed, sitting on the ground and not moving an inch. Goosebumps rose on her pale skin, and tears are rolling down her cheeks freely. Her hand feels like it has been holding an ice cube for hours, cold and rigid. Her entire body is trembling in fear.

Ayano walks to Saki Miyu and hands her the bra she was missing, a satisfied expression still on her face from Kokona. "My job is finished, Miyu-senpai," she says.

Saki beamed, "Yes! You found it! Thanks a lot, I owe you one!"

Ayano only gave her a sweet, fake smile and heads to her classroom on the second floor.

After she left, not blocking the entrance view in Saki's eyes anymore, Saki sees her best friend sitting on the ground leaning back, her arms supporting her. Saki runs to her worryingly, "Kokona-chan! What's the matter?!"

The fragile girl jumped slightly, then slowly and rigidly turns her head to the turquoise-haired girl with a weak smile, "I'm fine...just a little tired..."

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Heaven fades from blue to black as the silver moon rises to the climax.

Kokona pulls the curtains together to cover the window. Right before she covered it all, she takes a look at the sky to see countless stars blinking back at her. To others, it is a sign of summer coming soon. A beautiful sight. But to her, it feels like millions of pairs of eyes staring at her, humiliating her. After all, she sold out her own dignity as a girl just to get money.

With anger and frustration mixed together, she pushed open the window and peeked her head out. She raised her head to face the sky and screamed at the stars, "WHAT ARE YOU ALL LOOKING AT?! GO SHINE YOUR ANNOYING LIGHTS SOMEWHERE ELSE! YOU WORTHLESS, UGLY BALLS OF PLASMA!" Then she slammed the window shut and closed the curtains.

Her door suddenly opened behind her, and she snapped her head around and saw her father standing there. The smell of alcohol radiated from his body, making Kokona's nose cringe. Her father lost balance and fell on his knees.

"Dad! A-Are you alright?!" Kokona launched herself towards him and supported his body with her arms. She dragged him to her bed and attempted to pull him on top of it. "Dad...were you drinking again...?" she asked, though knowing the answer already.

Her father didn't answer anything. He slowly sat up, with the help of his daughter. A pregnant silence fell between the two. After a moment, he started to choke out a few sobs. More and more tears dropped out of his eyes as he tries to wipe them away. "I'm sorry..." he says with a trembling voice.

Kokona's eyebrows narrowed, "D-Dad, what are you saying, all of a sudden...?"

"I'm sorry..." he continued to say, "I'm sorry, Kokona... I've been such a terrible father to you... I am useless, I wasn't able to make enough money to pay off my debts..."

His daughter widened her eyes. Pain reflected in them as she remembers the fact that he borrowed money from many shady people who turned out to be loan sharks. For so many years, he worked hard just to pay the debts off, so the group of loan sharks won't do anything to harm his family. When she thought of this, her eyes start to feel hot. She felt something wet roll down her cheeks.

The man sighed hopelessly, a sad expression on his face. "Perhaps your mother really is a blind woman... Choosing a man like me..." he says, shaking his head. He got off Kokona's bed. He turns around, walks out of the room, and shuts the door.

Loud footsteps can be heard moving farther and farther from her room, and finally, no more noises.

Kokona bit her bottom lip and pulled out her phone. She dialed a familiar number that she hated so much. She pressed the call button and pressed the phone on her ear.

"Kokona-chan?" the contact answered.

She took a shaky, deep breath and said, "Let's do it again...next Monday..."

Without waiting for a response, Kokona hung up immediately and buried her face in her pillow.

In the silent neighborhood under the dark night sky, soft weeping noises from a teenage girl can be heard in the Haruka household...

One day feels longer than a year...

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"Good morning, everyone...!"

The moment Kokona stepped into the plaza, it became silent.

"Oh...it's her..." Yuna Hina, a girl with golden hair and eyes, whispered to Yui Rio, a red-haired girl, who is standing next to her.

Kokona Haruka gave her a questioning look, "What's the matter? Why is everyone lacking energy today?"

The boys whispered to each other while eyeing her, clearly talking about a bad rumor. The girls only looked at each other with a nervous expression. Saki Miyu, her best friend, is obviously the first one to step up, "Um... K-Kokona-chan, y-yesterday...well..."

Kokona chuckled anxiously, "W-What's wrong, Saki-chan? Did anything happen yesterday?"

Yui huffed and pushed Saki out of the way and faced Kokona with a degrading look, "Haruka- _senpai_ , yesterday we all heard about you going to Shisuta Town. Apparently you were said to be engaged in a _compensated dating._ I thought I saw you with an older man in Shisuta Town yesterday at night, but I didn't think it was really you..."

Kokona's eyes widened in horror.

Yuna gulped and whispered to Koharu Hinata, "I wasn't sure if I should say anything about it, but I saw her doing that last week, too..."

Koharu's expression became shocked, "Seriously? I didn't think there would be anyone like that at our school..." Then she gave Kokona a disgusted look.

"Wow...that's pretty gross...I expected better from Kokona-chan..." said Mei Mio, the blue-haired girl next to Koharu.

Saki shook her head in disbelief, "No...Kokona-chan...it's not true...is it...?" She looked at Kokona, desperately waiting for her best friend to deny this. The Kokona she knows is sweet, innocent, and pure...right? The rumors must be fake!

The purple-haired girl's irises trembled with fear. She wanted to talk, but her voice is stuck in her throat. She wanted to run away, but her body cannot move an inch.

Behind the shoulder of Saki, she sees the last person she wants to see at this moment. Taro Yamada looked at her with a disappointed expression. He sighed, shook his head helplessly, then turns around and heads inside the building.

The world is turned upside down for Kokona Haruka.

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Taro Yamada sits on the edge of the fountain, eating lunch as he stares at the beautiful, blue sky from the bottom. He takes a bite of his octopus sausage, cringing at the sudden cold sensation against his teeth after drinking his green tea.

Ayano Aishi takes a peek at him from behind the tree, her heart racing and threatening to escape her chest. She patted her burning cheeks in embarrassment. "Idiot, idiot, don't get too carried away..." she whispered to herself.

"Who's there?" the senior asks, clearly heard her voice.

A tiny yelp escaped from Ayano, then she slowly comes out of her hiding spot. Her head is drooped the entire time as she walks to the fountain.

Taro smiled, "Oh, it's you. I remember you, you're the girl I helped with carrying papers to the faculty room, right?"

Her voice suddenly disappears when she opened her mouth, "Th...th..."

He chuckled lightheartedly, "No need to thank me. Anyone else would've done the same thing if they saw you. This is what humans naturally do."

 _'You're wrong...'_ she thought, pursing her lips, _'You're too pure, Senpai... Humans...they only help you so they can get complimented...so they can get benefits... They always put on a pretty mask... No one is like you...'_

Ayano stopped when she reaches the fountain on the opposite side of Taro. She sits down, her head still lowered and her eyes staring at the ground. Taro glanced at her back from his side with a confused look, "Are you scared to sit next to me?"

Gulping, Ayano shook her head furiously, her face painted in red from embarrassment.

Sighing, Taro stands up and walks to the other side and sits next to the underclassman, making her jump. He laughed, "You really are a shy one, aren't you?" Then he noticed how she did not bring any food with her, "Where is your lunch?"

"U-Uh...f-f-forgot..."

"Do you have any money with you? The cafeteria sells a lot of good bread, you know?"

"..." Ayano remained silent.

With nothing left to say, Taro sighed again and splits his huge rice ball in half. On the inside there is hot red bean paste. The sweet odor reaches Ayano's nose, making her feel just a bit hungry. "This might not make you full, but it's still better than having an empty stomach, right?"

"You're...so pure...Senpai..." she suddenly said, in a very low voice.

"E-Eh...?" Taro blushed, embarrassed because it is the first time hearing someone younger than him tell him that, as if the girl in front of her is much more older than she looks.

Ayano lifts her head up and looks at Taro straight into his eyes, making Taro feel uneasy. Her face is visibly pink, and her heart is on the verge of exploding. "Senpai... Why do you want to get close to someone like me? Why would you want to make friends with an empty shell like me?!" She wanted to immediately shut up, but her mouth acts quicker than her mind. "Senpai, I... I don't understand...what are these things people call "emotions", a-and...how to feel them..."

Taro stayed quiet, listening to this strange girl talking.

"I can't feel anything... For as long as I can remember, I've never been able to feel emotions... I pretend to be normal when I'm around other people, but on the inside, I feel nothing. It's not as bad as it may sound. I know that I'm broken, but I don't care. This is normal for me... And-"

She was interrupted when she felt something stuffed in her mouth. It was the half of the rice ball Taro wanted to share. Ayano blinked, then her face immediately flushed red. _'I'm eating Senpai's food...! I'm actually eating his food!'_ her mind screamed.

Taro ruffled his hair embarrassingly, his face slightly tinted pink. "Jeez, this is embarrassing..."

Ayano widened her eyes.

He tried to avoid her eyes while talking, "Look, um... I may not be the best with words, but... You see, in this world, in order to live, you have a choice between standing up and make everyone your enemies, or backing down and make everyone your friends... It's a lot better to choose the latter. I...well, I've never tried to pretend to be someone else. If the world is against me for who I am, for what I am, I wouldn't care much. Every living being on this world are all here to enjoy their time as much as possible before everything fades away... Lives are very fragile...even the smallest thing can shorten them to an extend..."

"You..." Ayano's eyes remained wide, a shocked expression on her face.

Taro gave her an awkward smile, "That's why, I think we should just-"

"TARO YAMADA!" a feminine scream is heard near the entrance. The door opens, revealing a beautiful girl with the same orange hair tied into pigtails. Osana Najimi stomped to him, "You idiot! I thought I told you to wait for me by the d-" She stopped when she sees Ayano Aishi sitting next to her childhood friend and love.

Taro scratched the back of his head, "...I'll look like a pervert if I stood in front of the girl's restroom for too long..."

Ayano's eyes returned to the blank and hollow ones they used to be when she sees the obstacle between her and Taro appear. She stands up, giving Osana and Taro a bow and leaves as quick as possible. Taro stared at her back as she leaves.

"Taro, who...is she?" Osana asks.

"I...I never got to ask her name..." he mutters to himself.

 _'What's up with her? She's acting strange...'_

* * *

 **A/N: I noticed that this story is getting a lot less attention than the previous one. Is it because my writing skills became worse? Is it because the idea is not interesting or creative? Is it because the cover or summary is boring? Or is it because people would rather see sweet romance between Ayano and Taro instead of eliminating rivals? For this chapter you may notice I added a lot more romance, but it is very awkward here because I gave myself a very difficult story prompt to write romance in...**


	3. Chapter 3

**School is making me so busy that I only have time during Friday nights and Saturday to write... ~Phoenix**

* * *

 _"How many words have you swallowed in order to preserve your angelic appearance?" the girl said, wiping off the blood of her victim off of her face. "You know...keeping too many things inside is unhealthy. You can get sick...so...very...sick." She spills some of the poisonous drug from the small bottle onto the napkin that is laying flat on her four fingers, "I'll help you clean it out."_

 _With that, she grabs her victim's chin and dumps the powder into her mouth._

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Ever since seeing her only love and best friend with another stranger girl, Osana Najimi has been very cautious. Mostly it was because recently Taro Yamada has been spacing out quite often, making her feel uncomfortable. Could it be that...he is thinking about that underclassman?

"Osana...?" she suddenly sees a hand waving in front of her, making her yelp and jump.

"I told you don't scare me like that!" she yelled and smacked him again. _'Idiot...idiot...idiot! Is he really that unconscious and dense?!'_

Taro rubbed the back of his head where he got hit and sighed, "You've been spacing out, is there a problem?"

 _'You're the one that's spacing out...'_ Osana thought, but not saying it out loud. "N-Nothing. Probably because I'm anxious about a test that's coming up..." she lied and looked away, her hands playing around with the edge of her skirt.

Deciding to not look any further into her, Taro pulls out his phone to check the time. It is currently 4:35 p.m, exactly sixty-five minutes after the school bell rung, signaling the end of the day. He and Osana decided to stay in classroom to complete homework after finishing their cleaning duties. The classroom's curtains float as breeze comes through the opened windows. The two teenagers are sitting face-to-face in Taro's desk because Osana pulled her chair around so she sits directly across from him.

Osana turns her head and looks out the window. There she sees the mythical cherry blossom tree standing tall on the hill behind the school. Flower petals fall down and float away from the wind. Something about this mysterious tree gives it a lonely, sad image.

"...Maybe one day Taro will also be under that tree..." she muttered, her eyelids slightly drooped. Her heart twitched just thinking about another girl speaking her feelings out to her childhood friend.

"Hmm? Did you say something?" Taro asked, not looking up from his homework.

"And then...once you and your beloved one hold hands...I'll be left alone. I'll be alone...just like that cherry blossom tree..." she continued, a hint of sadness in her tone.

"Osana..." Taro then smiled and held his chin with his palm, elbow supporting the arm on the table. "Osana, eventually we will part away and make our own family... We might go to different colleges, make new friends, make new memories, and...we even fall in love... But don't worry! Osana is my best friend. Since the beginning, since now, since forever. I've been somewhat of a shady guy for my entire life, and Osana is the first one to ever reach out to me, not ignoring my presence. You mean something to my life, so no matter what, I will never forget you. I will always be your best friend."

His words warmed Osana's heart. She blushed madly, then looked away, avoiding their eyes to meet, "Idiot...don't say that casually to any girl you meet, you idiot..." She tried to frown, but failed badly and cannot hide her smile.

Taro chuckled, making Osana's heart twitch even more. She squeezed her eyes tightly, _'Don't laugh like that... Don't talk like that... Don't make me lose my control...'_

 _'I love you...'_

 _'I love you so much, Taro...'_

 _'What magic did you use to possess my heart...?'_

 _'What can I do to calm the beatings in my chest...?'_

The sky changes its color from blue to golden.

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 _'They didn't come...'_ Kokona looks at the empty seats at the dining table of the cooking club. She sits alone in her usual spot, with the plate of octopus sausages at the center of the table. The food has already became hard, not the original texture anymore.

Her eyes had lost their original brightness. They are no longer full of life. Not after she sees only the backs of her friends turned to her. Her hollow eyes stared at the food. The entire clubroom is silent, no more laughs and chatting from Kokona's friends anymore.

 _'In the end...they didn't come...'_ she thinks as droplets of hot tears drop onto her thighs, giving her legs goosebumps. Her body trembles, _'In the end...they never came...'_

She buries her face in her arms on the table, not bothering to touch the food she intended to make for her friends like before. Nothing can change people's opinions about her anymore. Hope has shattered into tiny pieces of shards, impossible to be put together again.

Her day ends with drowning tears and loneliness once again.

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Night falls quicker than usual, meaning winter is almost here.

The black cat yawns and stretches, then jumps on the bed. Ayano closed her windows and pulled her curtains together. She then sits on her bed, waking her half-asleep cat. The cat moves out of the way so its master can sit and lean against her pillow, then it moves right next to her, allowing her to pet its head and back. Then it jumps onto her lap and lays flat on its stomach. Ayano pulls out and began to look at her phone. Then she scrolls all the way to Info-chan's contact.

The last message sent was the student information of Kokona Haruka. Ayano begins to type, _"Does Senpai have any allergies?"_

While waiting for a reply, Ayano strokes her cat's ear and tail. The cat purrs in pleasure and begins to fall asleep.

Her phone vibrated, revealing Info-chan's response, _"Only one."_ A moment later, she texted, _"Cats."_

Her irises became blank, with a grin still on her face. Her fingers went to her cat's head and immediately bent it sideways, snapping the cat's neck without any warnings, making noises that sounded like cracking bones.

She stood up and lifts the window up to open it, then threw the cat's corpse outside. It landed in the bushes, making leaf rustling noises. She closed her window and returns to her bed, then texted back, _"Thanks for letting me know!"_

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"G-Good morning, Yan-chan..." Saki Miyu greeted, but lacked her usual cheerful spirit.

Ignoring the nickname, Ayano asked with a fake caring tone, "What's the matter, Miyu-senpai? Your face looks quite pale."

"I-Is that so? ...I-I'm probably still in disbelief... Still in disbelief that Kokona-chan is... _that_ kind of person..." she said, one hand holding her head. Then she remembered something and asked, "Yan-chan, the clubs are all opened now, are you going to join one?"

A few days ago, eight new clubs have opened, ready to accept new members to join. Many students of Akademi are excited to check out the features of the club. Of course, Ayano couldn't bother keeping up with the bandwagon.

"If there are any benefits, perhaps I can consider..." she muttered. Her eyes traveled to Kokona Haruka, who just arrived to her shoe locker. No one bothered to look at her, keeping a good distance away. Ayano smirked, enjoying the scene of her rival suffering. But her smirk was immediately wiped off when she sees Taro Yamada approaching the lonely girl, with what seemed to be a smile on his face. They are interacting...giving an emotion called, "rage" to Ayano. She feels alive again. Alive, bloodthirsty.

"Haruka-san, are you...feeling well?" Taro asked in concern, earning multiple weird stares from other students passing by.

Kokona responded with blushing madly. "Y-Yamada-kun...?"

The way she says his name with _"-kun"_ in the end and with a shy tone triggered Ayano. The more fragile she tries to act, the more tempting it is for Ayano to break her.

 _'Enough pretending, you dirty prostitute...!'_ she thought angrily.

"Maybe I don't have any rights to say this, but...Haruka-san, even though what you did is considered a serious matter..." Kokona flinched at his words, "...but I just want you to know that...life goes on, time passes by, no matter how much you try to stop it. Eventually you'll grow ugly if you don't stop crying," he continued.

Kokona's eyes widened. She raised her head and looked at her crush. He looks back at her violet pupils with his own charcoal grey ones. Honesty is the only thing Kokona sees in his eyes.

Ayano's hands clenched and tightened into fists. Her nails dug deep into her palm. Her irises decreased their sizes and became blank like a doll's eyes, and shadow covered the top half of her face. Menacing aura surrounded her.

"Y-Yan-chan...?" Saki called out with a slightly intimidated tone.

Ayano quickly returned to normal and looked at the turquoise-haired girl, "Yes, Miyu-senpai?"

Saki sighed in relief, "I thought I lost you there for a second... So, have you decided? The club you are most interested in?" She did not receive a reply. She noticed the underclassman she's talking to is staring at something or someone, so she followed her glance, only to see Budo Masuta blocking the view of Taro and Kokona.

"Ahh, you like the martial arts club?" she asked with a wide smile, "Indeed, Masuta-san is a very strong and admirable person, though he may be overzealous about martial arts sometimes..."

Ayano's eyes then averted to the nurse's office, then to the direction of the school's storage room. Her signature smile stretches on her face again. Without saying goodbye, she runs upstairs to her classroom, leaving a surprised Saki behind.

"E-Eh? Yan-chan? Yan-chan?! Jeez...going to class that early?" she said to herself, pouting and places her hands on her hips.

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The bell for the end of the day rings as soon as the teachers assigned the homework for students. Needless to say, high school is merciless. Mostly boys complained about the work they had to do other than any club activities. Some students stayed in school to finish their homework.

Kokona spaced out during the entire class. Her desk has many rude remarks and insults written largely in black markers.

 _"KILL YOURSELF!"_

 _"WHORE!"_

 _"WE DON'T NEED ANY SLUTS HERE!"_

How many times did she hear that each day ever since her secret has been revealed? What do those students think they will achieve by entertaining themselves through destroying her life? What did she do to grasp the attention of that...monster?

She feels nothing inside now. Every nerve in her body is numb from the constant pain that she got used to it.

If only there is a way to escape this lifeless body...

"Haruka-san?" she hears a male's voice behind her. She turned her head around and finds Taro Yamada standing there with his backpack packed up. Soft pink colors her cheeks as her heartbeat races.

"Yamada-kun..." she spoke his name bashfully.

"There's no one else left in the classroom. Let's go home."

Kokona widened her eyes and looked at him, "...Y-Yamada-kun...d-do you not...hate me?"

Taro scratched the back of his neck embarrassingly, "Well...honestly, this is more of a bandwagon thing. I apologize, Haruka-san, for...um...being so shallow," he paused for a second, not noticing his classmate's face growing redder, "If you don't mind me asking, well..."

"G-Go on..."

"...Well...Haruka-san, are you...really okay with people treating you like this?"

A pregnant silence falls. Kokona's smile fades away, and the brightness in her eyes disappear. Memories of the fun times spent with her friends immediately switched to the disgusted looks on their face whenever she thinks about them. She took a deep, shaky breath and said, "I've always been paranoid about this day finally arriving. Each day I tried to avoid talking about what I did after school, and... But in the end, this happened anyways."

Her left arm bends to grab the elbow of her other arm.

"I...I thought I would be used to it by now, that the feeling of hurt when seeing my friends' backs turned to me will fade away as time passes by. I thought I could handle this painful throb in my chest, but...but..." she starts to choke up, beads of hot tears drip from her eyes, "But...in the end...I'm so lonely...!"

Taro was taken aback by her suddenly crying.

She wiped her tears and sniffed, trying to withdraw the liquid from her eyes, "I-I thought I can conceal my feelings naturally by now, th-that I will not have anymore pain to endure, a-and yet I... I want to see Saki-chan so much, I miss her, along with Yui and the others...! I wanted to say I'm sorry, I'm sorry for what I've done, I'm sorry for not telling them, I'm sorry for existing-..." she was interrupted by her own gasp when she felt Taro's arms pulling her towards him.

Taro tries to hug her in the most comforting way. One hand goes up to the back of the girl's head. The girl's face is almost as red as the circle on the Japanese flag.

"Yamada...kun...why are you..." she managed to say. Slowly, more tears gather up in her eyes, and her face becomes twisted as she can no longer hold her feelings in. She bursted out crying, wet tears staining the boy's uniform. Both of her hands held onto him tightly, her fingers tugging his shirt, creating wrinkles.

Every single scene that just happened were witnessed by Ayano. Her teeth clenched in anger, and her hands tightened into fists, her nails digging deeply into her palm.

 _'Those arms belong to ME! Me, and ONLY me!'_

 _'Who...just who gave you the right to touch them?!'_

 _'How dare you seduce him like that, you good-for-nothing faker... You whore...'_

 _'Kokona Haruka...!'_

"Miyu-senpai, can I talk to you for a moment?" she puts a hand on the turquoise-haired girl's shoulder just as she was walking by.

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"Yan-chan, why are we in the storage room?" the confused upperclassman asked as she follows Ayano into this small, empty room with only a large, black instrument case in there.

Ayano only stood in front of her, with her back facing Saki. She tilts her head upwards and stared at the ceiling, "You know, Miyu-senpai...I...I saw Haruka-senpai just now."

"O-Oh..." Saki merely made out, turning her head away and looked down with a painful and guilty expression, "Why are you bringing that up..."

She turned around and faced Saki with a fake smile, "Haruka-senpai really is a terrible person, Miyu-senpai." Her hands are behind her back, as if she's hiding something.

"...Kokona...sh-she..." Saki stuttered, "...she really is. Y-You're right, she really is a...terrible...person," she paused for a moment, "She is terrible...for not believing in me..."

Ayano cocked an eyebrow.

"I've told her before, when she was confessing about her relationship with her father...that I am her friend, and I would never judge her for anything."

Ayano scoffed at her, earning a confused and shocked look, "Hah, you? Not judging her? What a big liar you are."

Saki's eyes widened. Her eyebrows furrowed, "H-How am I a liar?! Yan-chan, you do not know her like I did, I've been her friend before high school, I would know! If there is no important reason, then she will not sell her own dignity out like engaging in a compensated dating! I..." she became quiet, "I...I abandoned her...when she needed a shoulder to lean on the most, I abandoned her... I..."

"Enough with this disgusting act. All of you...are nothing more than a fake, plastic layer of costume. All of you just try to sound nice when you realize the mess you made so no one will blame you after watching your cutesy act!" Ayano spat venomously.

"H-How could you say such horrible thing, Yan-chan..." Saki has a hurt and angry expression on her face, "Did you really bring me here just to tell me that? You know what, I'm done. I don't know what's gotten into you today, but I am not taking it. I still have homework to do, I'll be leaving now. Thank you for your heartless lectures!" she bowed quickly and stormed off.

Ayano immediately reached out and grabbed one of her long pigtails and yanked her back and watched as she dropped back onto her knees, making her yelp in pain and surprise.

"Ow! Let go of me! What are you doing?!" She continued to struggle like a captured wild dog.

Ignoring her resistance, Ayano pulled out a syringe, pushed the bottom and let a few drops of liquid come out. Saki's eyes widened in horror, "Where'd you get that...? Come on, put that thing down! Yan-chan, this isn't funny anymore!"

" _'Yan-chan', 'Yan-chan'_... So annoying. I think it's time for you to have a nice nap, Miyu-senpai." Without another word, she slashed down.

The syringe pierced through Saki's neck. The tranquilizer spreads throughout her systems, causing her vision to darken. "What...did you..." she choked out, then her eyelids shut and she dropped onto the cold, hard floor, deep in her slumber. There was a small, bleeding scar on her neck from Ayano stabbing slightly too hard.

Ayano throws the syringe onto the ground and drags Saki's lifeless body towards the instrument case. She unlocked it, opened it, and tried to stuff Saki in there as best as she could. Before closing the lid, she picked up the syringe and tossed it in the case so no one can find it. Then she shuts the lid, trying to fit the body in there.

She pulls out her phone and pressed Info-chan's contact number. Then she presses the send box to pull out the keyboard and typed, "Thank you for the help!"

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.

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 _"Hello there! I'm Kokona Haruka, a member of the cooking club! What is your name?"_

 _"Saki-chan, I think I fell in love... That guy, Taro Yamada, from my class... Whenever I'm near him my heart feels like it's about to jump out, you know?"_

 _"S-Saki-chan, please help me...! M-My dad, h-he...!"_

 _"No...Saki-chan, it wasn't like that, I-I had to do this, m-my family..."_

 _"Why did you leave me...the moment where I needed you the most...is when you left me..."_

"Kokona...chan..." the girl muttered this hated name under her breath as she comes back to her conscience. Beads of sweat rolled down from her face, and strands of turquoise bangs stick to her wet forehead. She looked around her surroundings, and all she see are grey brick walls. In front of her a tall, wooden shelf is inside the wall, but nothing is on there. Tape recordings were scattered everywhere on the floor.

Her heart pounded faster, panicking about her whereabouts. Her head hurts when she tries to remember what happened before.

Footsteps came downstairs. Saki Miyu turned her head to the entrance, and sees a familiar-looking girl standing there, blank eyes staring back and smirking.

"Yan...chan...?" she called out her nickname, hoping the girl will not answer.

But she did. "Good evening, Miyu-senpai~ Did you have a good nap?"

Saki's eyes widened, "Yan-chan...w-why are you... Kokona-chan..."

Ayano made a bored expression, "Why I'm doing this? Well...it's simply a punishment for those who stand in my way. Your mistake was befriending Haruka-senpai, and her mistake...well..." her mouth stretched into a smirk again, "She laid her eyes on something that belongs to me, and me ONLY."

A cold shiver was sent down Saki's spine. The "Yan-chan" she knew from before seems so faraway, as if she...died. Who is this girl that looks exactly like her? Why do her words sound so cold-blooded, as if she is a predator? Moreover, why did she kidnap her?

"Why are you doing this... What did _I_ ever do to you...?" she asked out of fear, her voice trembling. Her parents must be so worried...will they ever suspect an underclassman like Ayano to do this? "How long are you going to keep me here? Forever?"

Ayano replied with, "That depends on how long can you amuse me...and how long can you stay useful for."

"What are you going to do...? Are you going to kill me?!"

"You see, I've thought about that before. All of you are just a bunch of pretty doll faces who put on a plastic mask for others to see, completely ignoring your own personality. I hate it...I hate every single one of you, I hate how you all are such cowardly beings who can't even show people who you truly are!" Ayano suddenly leaned forward, her forehead touching Saki's. Her hands gripped onto the arms of the wooden chair, and her elbows bent to lower her eye level until they meet Saki's turquoise eyes that reflected fear.

"I don't understand...why do other people's actions...bother you so much..." she said, clearly intimidated.

Ayano smiled and stands back up straight, "I was born to this world to explore every unique thing that existed... But in the end, all of you are the same. All of you conceal your faces with an ugly mask to fit in, and it disgusted me how not one of you are straightforward. I want this world to burn...I want everything that lived in this world to burn."

"You're a sick person, Ayano Aishi...!" Saki spat.

"I'm merely stating my thoughts on what you all call 'humanity'!" Ayano shot back, then added, "Miyu-senpai...I can give you an opportunity to express your true feelings. Deep down in your heart...you detested Kokona Haruka, am I right? You wanted to destroy her, crush her, and kill her!"

Saki shook her head, a fearful expression still worn on her face, "No...Kokona-chan ended up like this because of you! I-I will never... I will never be as twisted as you!"

Ayano frowned and raised an eyebrow, slightly annoyed at this girl's "dishonesty". Her signature smile stretches across her face, then she leans closer to her, "Miyu-senpai...would you be my toy and amuse me for a few days?"

Saki's pupils shrunk in terror. Cold sweat rolls down from her forehead. She shook her head slowly, leaning away from the psychotic girl, "What are you doing... Don't come any closer! Stay away! STOP! NO!"

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The next day, the girls that are close to Saki Miyu are worried about her whereabouts. Their parents received phone calls from her mother, asking if Saki was at their house, but as expected, everyone denied so. The police even came to check the school for more clues, but did not find any evidence of a crime scene that happened. Akademi High School also has no security cameras because the staff is very focused on their reputation, thinking that enabling security cameras will cause students to feel as if anything severe can happen inside the building.

Of course, that is none of Ayano's concerns.

Missing posters are pasted all around the school grounds and Buraza Town, hoping to find any clue about the location of Saki. Students became more and more worried about her.

Taro Yamada never liked socializing much. He preferred being surrounded by nature alone, but sometimes Osana Najimi can lighten his mood up a little if he felt slightly down. But after the news of Saki Miyu spread throughout the school, he became worried about her and Kokona Haruka, mainly because she is... _was_ her best friend.

Ayano noticed his vision landing on said purple-haired girl, who was sitting on a bench alone as usual, making her heart twitch in anger. She watches as he strolls over to her and sat right next to her. She silently walked behind a tree closer to them to have a better listen at their conversations.

"What should I do, Yamada-kun... Saki-chan is missing, and I can't do anything to help her! I-I love her so much, I don't want to sit here and act helpless! Please, Yamada-kun, p-please help me...please help me save Saki-chan!" Kokona cried desperately, grabbing Taro by his shirt.

Ayano's fingers dug deep into the bark of the tree trunk, _'You faker...get your dirty paws off of him!'_

"Haruka-san, please calm down," Taro replied, taking her hands and made her release his shirt. Kokona's cheeks reddened out of embarrassment, and she withdrew her hand, clearly flustered. "Haruka-san, I'm sure Miyu-san is not able to go anywhere herself, because she is only eighteen years old. And if it were a kidnapper, they shouldn't have gone far, yet. Miyu-san is strong, I'm sure if you believe in her, she will definitely find out a way to escape."

Kokona's eyes widened, then she wiped off her tears and smiled, "Yes...you're right, Saki-chan will not be defeated easily...! I know it..."

Taro smiled warmly back, making Ayano's heart clench. But what rages her is that the smile is not for her, but for that dirty wench. She must've been practicing all day long just to put up a cutesy act to grasp his attention. Ayano swore to pour acid and melt that plastic mask.

"By the way...where is Najimi-senpai? I haven't seen her for a while. Isn't she usually by your side?" Kokona asked.

"Oh, um..." Taro sighed, "She has a pretty bad fever. I guess I'll go bring her some sweets and medicine today..."

Ayano's eyes glistened as an idea popped up in her head. Perhaps she can use this as an excuse to get closer to both Taro and Osana Najimi, so she can gather more personal information and let Osana become attached to her. After all, emotional and physical abuse is the best combination once blood and tears are both spilled at the same time as the result.

Her mind drifted into daydreams for the rest of the day in school.

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"No...not you again...!" Saki Miyu's voice trembled as she sees Ayano entering the basement.

Ayano giggled, "Nice to see you, too, _Saki-chan_."

"Stay away! Get away from me!" she cried out of fear.

Ayano made a spine-chilling giggle again, "Shh...Saki-chan, Saki-chan, it's okay. You are going to be okay..."

Saki did not listen. She shook her head furiously, "Just kill me already...get it over with!"

"Oh...but then the FUN will be over, Miyu-senpai... I need you. I need you to do something for me," Ayano replied and walked over to her, her shadow towering over the frightened girl.

Saki continued to tremble, but her expression was unforgiving and vengeful, "I hate you... I'll never forgive you for this!" She flinched when Ayano reached out a hand and touched her cheek gently with her cold fingers. Her hand caressed her cheek, as if she is examining a subject for experiments.

"Hate me? Hate me for what? For letting you speak the truth? For isolating my only "friend" from the filthy Akademi High School?! My, my, Saki Miyu, you are still so ignorant! You do not see the evil in humans! All of them... ALL OF THEM! They're nothing but a pretty, plastic toy for people to customize! They dress themselves up only for other people's eyes! None of them dare to speak their mind!" She hollers as her grip on the turquoise-haired girl's cheeks tighten.

Her voice echoed in the hollow, empty basement. A drop of cold sweat rolled down Saki's face. She gulped, then looked at Ayano cautiously, "If you let me go, I won't tell the police...I swear..."

"If only I can believe that innocent act of yours... But you see, I can't even believe your lies about how much you cherish your..."friendship"...with Kokona Haruka. She had her own punishment, but too bad she is just another filthy weakling, a trash-eater...so she broke. The moment when she desired a warm touch to fix her, you withdrew your hand."

Those harsh words hit Saki Miyu hard, as if her head has been struck by a lightning bolt. "K-Kokona...chan..." she timidly said her name, her voice quivering. Tears rolled out of her turquoise eyes. Her heart twitches with guilt and regret. "Kokona-chan... I'm sorry... I'm sorry... Kokona-chan..."

"Now, shall we start the beautiful night with another session?" Ayano grinned and tucked her pointer finger under Saki's chin.

"NO! NOT THAT! ANYTHING BUT THAT! NOT AGAIN! STAY AWAY! NO!"

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"Good morning, Osana," Taro greets when he sees the girl standing next to and leaning against one of the trees in the school's plaza.

"Taro..." Osana seemed like she is in daze, that or daydreaming. Then she finally came back to conscience and smacked her poor childhood friend's head, "I-Idiot! Don't do that!"

Taro rubbed his head with a mistreated and scared expression, "W-What did I do now? I only greeted you..."

Osana raised her hand again, ready to smack him again, "Don't scare me like that, you insensitive numbskull-..."

Her voice was cut off when her hand was caught by a slimmer, paler, colder one. Ayano used her pointer finger and thumb and gripped onto Osana's wrist in place, clearly using a lot of strength to cause a painful expression on the girl in front of hers face. Taro stared in awe.

"Please refrain from expressing your unfair treatment through physical violence...Najimi- _senpai_ ," Ayano emphasized the word, "senpai", mocking her.

The other students averted their attention from what they were doing and turned to look at the three. Osana's face reddened deeply, embarrassed after being confronted by an underclassman. She slowly withdrew her hand and rubbed her wrist with the other hand and looked down, wanting to hide in a corner from the attention of the bystanders.

Ayano's heart raced. She is the one who really wants to hide after coming out from the shadows out of nowhere and let out her rude personality to her Taro-senpai's childhood friend...in front of her Taro-senpai...

 _'Does he think I am rude now? Does he think I am ugly now? ...Does he hate me now...?'_

Her heart thumps faster and louder each time she asks herself a question. Deciding to leave this place as fast as possible, she turned around, her hands gripped tightly onto opposite arms, and walked speedily, her head down the entire time.

Budo Masuta was slightly surprised by such act from a mere second year girl. He let out a short, quiet chuckle, shook his head, and heads to his clubroom.

After a short moment of silence, the rest of the students went back talking with their friends. Osana didn't raise her head, but her eyes rolled up to look at Taro. "I...I..." she stuttered, trying to think of something to say. But her prideful personality prevented her from coming up with a proper apology.

Taro's head was still pointed towards the direction where Ayano left. His cheeks were colored with the lightest shade of pink, and one hand raised and was placed on the back of his warm neck.

 _'Aishi-san...so cool...'_

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The cold air in the basement was not enough to cool down Ayano's face from embarrassment from this morning. She stormed downstairs, waking up the victimized girl she captured.

Saki looked up slowly, her mind still in daze. Her vision becomes clearer, and she sees the image of her kidnapper with a cold frown and dark aura. She was not in a good mood. Her heart dropped as quickly as her hope.

"No...not again..." she tried to tell Ayano, but her voice quivered, and her head twitched as her sanity drains from her mind, "Stay away...get away..."

Ayano walks to her, her loud footsteps echoed, hurting Saki's ears. She stopped after she is only about a feet away from her victim. She sees her face has become the sick, pale color like a piece of paper. Her cheekbones are more visible, dark, eye bags are visible, and dried tear lines are under that.

"How annoying...so, you can still talk, huh?" Ayano stated with a grumpy tone, "Once I'm done with you, I will cut off your tongue and make sure not a single word can be heard from you."

"Just...kill me..." Saki choked out, her head twitching more.

Ayano's mind snapped and she reached out a hand and grabbed Saki's skull, "SILENCE! Who are you... WHO ARE YOU TO TELL ME WHAT TO DO?! YOU ARE NOTHING BUT ANOTHER TRASH-EATER!" She started moving her hand, shaking Saki's head, making her dizzy, "Be stronger...stay in this game... I am not done, yet, and you will continue to amuse me with everything you have left..."

Saki's eyelids are starting to droop, "I...hate you..."

Ayano's expression loosened up slowly. She calmed down, and she lets go of Saki's head and said, "I'm glad...that your hatred is growing bigger, and you became more honest. It saddens me that trash-eaters like you will need to waste so many hours just for this result. I guess erasing all the disgusting colors you have in your mind really does help a lot, huh?"

"Let me go...please..."

Ayano was about to reply, but her phone suddenly vibrated. She walked to the corner of the basement room and pulled it out, seeing a new text message from Info-chan. She grunted in annoyance and pressed her contact to read it.

 _"Where have you been? I need you to give me some exciting news for my papers. Do you not want any help getting your precious senpai?"_

Reading through the message, Ayano then smirked and replied, _"Don't worry, tomorrow is going to be amusing."_ She then looked up and scanned her victim, currently staring in blank space, ready to accept any torture. She smirked, then walked back to her and knelt down.

"W-What are you doing...?" Saki's asked nervously.

Ayano gave her a fake smile, "Don't worry, just needed to take some pictures." She then grabbed Saki's thighs and spread her legs open, revealing her white underwear. Saki's eyes widened and screamed. Her face flushed with shame and embarrassment. She tried to close her legs, but Ayano's grip was too tight. Ayano flipped her skirt up even more to get a full view of Saki's panty. She pulls out her phone and selects camera, then aims for the center of her panty.

"Say cheese, Miyu-senpai~"

Saki's eyes are drenched with tears for who knows how many times now. She probably doesn't even have anymore water inside her to cry. She watches helplessly as Ayano snaps a picture of her most embarrassing part. Shame crawls on her back and she cannot even do anything about it. The girl in front of her is a _monster_.

"Alright, we can finally finish your final session, Miyu-senpai! Or should I say...Saki-chan? Because this'll be the last time you'll hear anyone call you that!"

"Please...no... Why are you doing this..."

Clouds covered the bright moon and stars. That night was one of the darkest nights in Buraza Town.

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 **A/N: I had a hard time writing a story that has decent quality...then again, when did my stories ever had high quality? Oh yeah, thank you all for supporting my Yandere Simulator fanfics, that really means a lot to me. " His Words" got much, much more popular than I expected it to be, and I cannot thank you enough. If you liked that story, do support this one, please, because...well...I actually put effort in this one...**


	4. Chapter 4

**This took way too long... I ran out of ideas... ~Phoenix**

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 _"Don't judge me because I'm silent, you silly girl..." she places a food on the girl's head and stomps on it, crushing her skull. Red blood stains the bottom of her shoe._

 _"No one plans murder out loud."_

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 _M A S K  
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Info-chan, the girl's known name, is hated, despised, and looked down upon inside the school because of her reputation as a pervert and a creeper. She likes to hide in the shadows and observe the actions of every single student, then recording them down. She takes photographs of girls' underwear and sells them to boys as a hobby. All of these actions...are simply disgusting.

She never had a real smile on her face before. She despised living in this world, she is disgusted by the hypocritical acts of males who insults her after buying her photographs. She had planned to soon end her long, boring journey of life in front of as many students as possible, just to create the last big news she'll ever learn of before death comes upon her.

Such a dull life...what's there to hope for?

But she soon found someone unique. Another pervert. Info-chan's heart throbs in excitement just thinking about that special someone. Her cheeks flush pink as she writes that person's name down on her notebook, drawing circles around it. She adored that person, so much that they gave her a true amusement...a real reason to continue living in this world with opened eyes and ears.

And yet that person's heart is already stolen by another disgusting human being.

Info-chan despised that human being for taking her only amusement, her only love. He had no right to touch anything that belonged to her. It almost made her nauseous just thinking about her returning to her usual self if her "property" ever gets taken.

Perhaps that is why she wanted to activate their true self...and encourage them to slaughter the humans in this school.

"Isn't that right, Ayano Aishi?" she talks to herself and smirked wickedly as she scrolls through their past conversations on text messages.

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Dawn rises, slicing through the dark as the sun releases its brightness, shining on the earth.

Dew drops dripped from Ayano's windows, landing on the grass and bouncing onto the dirt. There was a small rain last night. The corpse of Ayano's black cat is now wet and releases an unpleasant smell.

Downstairs in the basement, Saki Miyu sits still in the wooden chair, wrists and ankles tied up with small pieces of ropes. There were dried blood stains on them from the victim's useless struggling. Beneath the ropes hid ugly scars and wounds.

"Good morning, Miyu-senpai~ Oh, forgive me, I forgot you don't belong in the school anymore. No need to respect you as an upperclassman anymore! Instead..." Ayano jumps from the last step on the staircase and approaches her, "...you, Saki-chan, will respect me as your master and creator."

"I'll do anything," Saki said robotically, no emotions were detected in her voice, "I'll do whatever you say. I'll obey any command."

"My...what a good girl you are. How sad that a filthy human will need to waste so much time to be completely cleansed. Look at you, how pure, how clean. It's as if you are a newborn child...except in this case, you are a slave. _My_ slave." Ayano then whipped out her phone and pulled out the camera option, "We need to have a good memory of this, right?" She snapped a few photos of the broken girl. Her eyes didn't even react to the flashing light from the camera.

Ayano wiped the blood stains on her face that came from her eyes. Clearly, the hopeless girl had cried all of her tears, until the only liquid inside her body is blood. Ayano licked her thumb that had Saki's blood on and cringed, "What a filthy taste... Trash-eaters are trash-eaters after all." She then crouched down and untied the ropes that were cutting off the turquoise-haired girl's blood circulation.

This is all too amusing.

"Let me out of this chair..." she swallowed, warm liquid rolls down from her eyes, "...I want to end it all."

Ayano made a cheeky grin. Then she grabbed Saki's hand and walked her out. This day will start off wonderfully.

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Raindrops fell from the grey sky as more and more clouds covered the morning sun, taking away the light. Ayano Aishi has Saki's hand in her own as she walks her to the school's entrance. Saki had her body bent forward, her head dropped, and her blank eyes stared at the ground.

"Welcome back...Miyu-senpai."

Ayano looks at her broken mind slave with a grin of satisfaction. She reached out a hand and ruffled her soft, turquoise hair. Then she used her pointer finger and tucked it underneath Saki's chin and forced her to look up so she can examine her face.

Eye bags, wrinkles, bruises, pale skin...all of the results of the effort she put into to cleanse her nasty mind.

But hard work pays off in the end.

"I'm useless," she mutters with monotone. So emotionless, it's almost as if she became a robot. "I'm worthless."

"Indeed you are, Miyu-senpai... Your moronic, simple-minded head just made you think just because you have a nice reputation in here, you can trust yourself with anyone..." Ayano's eyes glimmered, "Well you're wrong. Do I need to remind you? In this world..."

"I'm nothing."

Ayano grabbed the back of Saki's collar and pulled her back harshly, making her stand up tall, "It's either stand up and make everyone your enemies..." Then she shoved her back down, "Or...backing down and making everyone your...friends." She chuckled, "Yes...I still hate that word. Friends or foe, in the end, they all judge you from first sight. There are no true friends in this world...but potential foes. Otherwise, why would it be so easy to anger one than cheering one?"

Then...she stuffed a knife in the unconscious girl's hand and forced her fingers to clasp on it so she can grip on the handle tightly. "I'll wait for your victory...Saki Miyu."

"Nothing matters. I should die."

"Yes, you should..."

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"Do not pray for an easy life. Pray for the strength to endure a difficult one! Shita, don't twist your body so much! And Kunin, you can do much better than that!" Budo Masuta watched as his students practicing with each other, one partner holds a wooden board for the other one to kick.

He walked around with his hands behind his back, examining the students that are kicking. Sho Kunin stopped and his body bent forward, his hands on his knees to support himself. He panted, "Masuta-senpai...I...can't...breathe..."

Showing no mercy, Budo gripped on his shoulder tightly and made him stand up straight, "A martial artist shall never fall in defeat! Keep your back straight!" He jabbed Sho's back, making him yelp.

Suddenly, he sees a bunch of girls running from the inside of the dojo. They were running downstairs in a hurry. "Miyu-senpai is back!" is what he heard from them, over and over again. He tells his students to wait for a moment and follows them. He didn't really know much about this "Miyu" girl, but he did feel worried about her well being when the news about her disappearance spread throughout the school.

Outside the building and in front of the gateway, many girls were gathered in a circle. Budo Masuta stops running when he sees a hint of turquoise hair, knowing it was Saki. Oblivious, he smiled and crossed his arms, watching the underclassmen pushing each other to talk to her.

"Sorry, sorry, e-excuse me..." Budo sees a flash of purple pushing past him, hurrying to the crowd surrounding Saki Miyu. It was Kokona Haruka.

The girls immediately stopped talking and their smiles were wiped off of their faces when they see Kokona walking to them nervously. They started whispering to each other.

"Isn't that Kokona Haruka?"

"The one who was engaged in a compensated dating?"

"I heard that she used to be Miyu-senpai's best friend..."

"Poor Miyu-senpai..."

All of those remarks were like arrows shooting directly at Kokona's brittle heart. Her legs trembled slightly, and cold sweat rolled down her face. She gulped and clenched her fists to keep herself calm, then she finally managed to call out, "S-...Saki-chan!"

But no response came.

Kokona's heart dropped a little. Seems like she still didn't forgive her.

But she didn't give up.

"Saki-chan... I...missed...you..." her voice lowers each word she mutters.

But silence fell.

Kokona stepped forward, the girls surrounding Saki scattered away. Budo Masuta watched worryingly. Will she be okay?

"I...I'm...s-sorry, Saki-chan... I missed you... I missed you so much..." Kokona's eyes felt blurry and hot, "Saki-chan, please don't leave me again, I know I am disgusting, I know I am the worst, but...but you know..." she took another step forward, "...I was suffering..."

Budo's eyes widened and was about to run to her, but he felt a hand placed on his shoulder and stopped. He turns his head and sees a familiar girl standing next to him, watching Kokona and Saki's "reunion".

"Don't bother, if they're friends, they can figure things out themselves," Ayano said with a grin.

Budo looked at her questioningly.

She dropped on her knees in front of the turquoise-haired girl, who stared at her with blank, hollow eyes. Kokona's eyes were shut tight, trying to keep her tears from falling onto the pavement ground, "E-Ever since my mom died...my dad's been drinking a lot..." she swallows a sob, "Sometimes...when he's drunk...h-he comes to my room, a-and..." Kokona's hand covered her mouth as she lets herself loose, "Saki-chan, you don't understand how happy I am just to see you, after everything I've been through just to make money to support my family...! Being with you, with Yui-chan, with Koharu-chan, with everyone, I-I can temporarily be in heaven! And yet, you..."

Saki's fingers twitched slightly.

"You gave me a reason to keep moving, you gave me smiles and happiness, you made my heart feel warmth and love and hope...and you took it and stomped on it, bashed against it, tore it apart, destroyed it..." her hands cupped the area on her chest where her heart is on cue, "Saki-chan, you're the worst! I hate you, I hate you, Saki-chan! I hate you, I hate you, I hate you, I hate you! I HATE YOU!"

She then stood up and raised her head, showing a forced smile and a pair of red, puffy eyes, "And yet...I love you...so much... I'm tired, Saki-chan, really, I am... I'm tired of standing up straight and tall with all of the weight on top of my shoulders... My back is about to break if I keep this up any longer..."

Mei Mio's hands clenched nervously. She bit her bottom lip, watching as Kokona approaching Saki slowly, then wrapping her arms around her. Saki didn't hug back.

Saki's skin felt so cold, yet so warm. "Welcome back...Saki-chan..." she murmured softly, her voice muffled by Saki's shirt and her eyes were closed.

"What a touching scene..." Ayano commented quietly and crossed her arms.

Budo looked at her for a second, then turned back and watched the two girls with a relieved smile.

Yuna smiled cheerfully and clapped, congratulating the reunion. Yui simply huffed and crossed her arms. Koharu and Mei shared each other a glance in surprise.

"Kill... Kill... Kill..."

Kokona's eyes widened, "W-What?"

A cold, sharp, metal object pierced through her stomach, and her body was electrified by the sudden and extreme pain. Then she feels warm liquid with a metallic odor drench her uniform wet. She slowly lowered her head, and she sees a hand holding a knife and stabbed her.

The girls that were watching screamed in horror.

"HARUKA-SENPAI!"

Budo's eyes widened like saucers in shock, then without hesitation, he dashes to Kokona. "Stop right there!" he yelled.

"Tch...in my way..." Ayano clicked her tongue in annoyance and ran after him, trying to stop him from ruining her plan and cause a big scene that could get her in trouble.

Kokona steps back a few steps and curls over, her hand covering her wound. She coughed and blood splats all over the ground. "You...why..." she barely choked out.

Saki runs to her in sonic speed, her bangs covering one eye and the other one wide opened, shadow covered her face. She raises the knife with both hands, with the blade pointing downwards, and aimed for Kokona's head. Kokona immediately caught both of her wrists, but Saki's monstrous strength pushed her onto the ground, letting her land on her tailbone.

Budo grabbed Saki's arms from behind and tried to pull her away. He had a shocked expression when he realized Saki was somehow much stronger than him. Saki heaved him in the guts with her elbow, and he choked as he tried to catch his breath from the strong impact. Then she stabbed the side of his stomach, and shoved him away. He landed on the grass on his spine, a hand covering the part where he got stabbed.

"Miyu! What the hell got into you?! Put that thing down!" he screamed desperately, wincing when he felt a sharp pain coming from his wound.

Saki turned back to Kokona and slashed down, but she rolled over and dodged the attack. Kokona cried, "Saki-chan! Why are you doing this?! Please, Saki-chan, open your eyes! I-I'm Kokona!" Her arms shot straight up and caught Saki's wrists again, trying to push the blade as far from her eye as possible. Her vision starts to fade as her breath shortens. Each time she breathes, it hurts so much that she cannot move even if she tried.

And her muscles finally gave up.

Saki stabs her neck first, then her chest, then her shoulder, then back to her neck. Kokona gags as blood fills in her throat and she chokes and drowns in them. Her eyes flipped up, showing red veins on the bottom. Her mouth is left wide open. Saki continued to stab her nonstop.

"Gh...hh...kh..." Kokona's last few drops of tears fly and land on the knife's bloody blade. Her body bounced slightly each time she gets stabbed.

"Miyu-senpai! Even if you hate Haruka-senpai, there's no need to do this!" Mei cried as tears fell out of her sapphire-blue eyes. She starts to run towards Saki and Kokona, but Koharu grabbed her arm and stopped her.

"No, Mei! Calm down! It's too dangerous!"

"LET ME GO! MIYU-SENPAI!" Mei pushed Koharu away and approaches Saki, hugging her tightly from behind, "Miyu-senpai, p-please wake up!"

Saki kicks her away and continues to stab the almost-dead girl. Mei yelped when she landed on the ground. But she didn't give up, so she ran back up and hugged her again, this time Yuna and Koharu also came to help. They each grabbed onto each of Saki's arms, trying to pull her away.

But they failed.

Kokona used all of her strength and gripped onto Saki's white uniform, which is now dirtied into red from her own blood on her hand. Saki's hands stopped almost immediately in mid-air, when she felt Kokona's touch.

"Sa...ki...chan..." Blood comes out of Kokona's eyes. Her hands slipped from Saki's uniform and dropped onto the ground. Her life fades away. She was stabbed a total of thirty-seven times.

"HARUKA-SENPAI!" Mei cried.

Saki pushed all of the girls away.

Koharu's body trembled badly. Along with her friends, she pulled out her phone and dialed the number to the police department with her shaking hand threatening to drop the phone anytime. "Th-There's...b-been...a-a death at...A-Akademi...High School... W-We..." she took a deep breath, then screamed loudly, "WE NEED HELP RIGHT AWAY!"

"Kokona...chan..." Saki unconsciously muttered the name of the girl she just murdered. She looked at her bloodied hand that's holding the knife. Then, slowly, she raised that hand with the blade pointing upwards and her other hand also held the handle. She pulled her head backwards, and slammed her forehead onto the sharp blade, which pierced through her scalp.

"NO!" Yuna screamed. She curled up into a ball and covered her head with her hands.

Saki dropped onto her knees, then fell forward. The knife's handle landed on the pavement first and was pushed further into her head.

Budo Masuta's expression can be described as "traumatized". He slowly shook his head, trying to deny any of this happening. Ayano walked by him and reached out a hand. Budo took it with his own trembling hand and stood up, his other hand still covering his wound. "This...didn't...happen..." he told himself. Then he turned around and grabbed Ayano by the collar, surprising her a bit. "Hey, tell me...this didn't happen...right?!"

"It did happen," Ayano said straightforwardly with a stoic face. "It did happen, Masuta-senpai, and nothing can change it."

"H-How are you...so c-calm...?" asked Budo.

Ayano chuckled and shook her head helplessly, then her expression darkens and her smile was immediately wiped off, sending a chill down Budo's spine, "When you've seen something too much...you'll get used to it."

"W-What do you mean...?"

"What's going on here?!" Ayano and Budo turned their heads towards the voice. The teacher of class 3-2, Kaho Kanon, and her student, Riku Soma, came, witnessing the horrific scene. "No...it can't be..." Kaho's eyes widened in terror. She sees her student's corpse drowned in her own blood, and another student laying next to her, with a knife deep inside her scalp. She runs to the corpses and gets on one knee, "This is a tragedy...why would anyone do this?"

"Th-The police..." Yuna gulped, "Th-They're arriving...in five minutes..."

Kaho furrowed her eyebrows, her forehead covered in sweat. She takes off her glasses and wipes the lenses with the edge of her shirt and told the students to go back in their classrooms and do not come out until the police tells them to. She also informed all of the faculty members about this catastrophe and told the other teachers to stay locked in their classrooms with their students.

One cockroach eliminated... Time to slaughter the next one.

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The sky drenched in golden streaks as the sun starts to set. The students were sent home after the police investigation ended. Taro Yamada decided to go to his childhood friend's house to check up on her sickness.

Following close behind him is Ayano Aishi, hiding behind trees and walls and bushes, trying to avoid from being caught. But of course, reality never follows the cliché television shows. She was caught again.

"Aishi-san? Are you there?" Taro called out after having a glimpse of her charcoal-colored hair behind a small town house.

Ayano slapped herself mentally and slowly stepped out, embarrassed. Steam can practically come out of her face from how red and warm it is. Her eyes avoided Taro's, staring at the ground, "Um...g-good afternoon, S-Senpai..."

"Aishi-san, why are you here? Do you live this way, too?"

"U-Um...I...well..."

He chuckled lightheartedly, pleasing Ayano's ears, "Well, since you're coming, do you want to visit Osana with me? She's been sick for a few days, so I'm going to her house to visit."

Ayano's breath was stuck in her throat. The thought of that ugly wench acting cute in front of _her_ love, seducing _her_ Taro, stealing _her_ property really enrages her. Her nails dug deep into her palm and her teeth clenched and her heart rate increased as flames of anger ignite inside her.

 _'Oh, Osana, sweet Osana, darling Osana,_ foolish _Osana...'_

 _'You just never learn, do you?'_

"B-But...I don't know her quite well, a-and last time I was very rude, s-so..." Ayano gripped onto the edge of her skirt tightly. Her hands are becoming cold because of how nervous she is.

Taro had a flash of disappointment in his eyes that Ayano unfortunately did not notice. He sighed and forced a smile, "That's alright, I'm sure Osana wouldn't mind. My bad, I...forgot you two don't know each other, yet...a-and I guess...we're not that close, too, so..." he paused, a mysterious shade of pink rose on his cheeks. He lifted a hand and placed it on the back of his neck that is, for some reason, warm, and said, "Let's get to know each other more, how about that?"

Ayano widened her eyes. Her ears could not hear anything except the echoes of his voice inside her head. Why, just why does this fool always try to peel off her innocent side? Is he really that curious to see what's inside this mask of hers? He is so pure, so bright, so beautiful...how can she ever dare to touch him? What if she breaks him? What that speck of light in her dark, monotone world vanishes just like that? For a moment, Ayano was afraid, afraid of losing him, but also afraid of having him.

Someone like her...is just a cruel maniac.

Someone like her...is just a dangerous background character.

Someone like her...is just a monster.

Ayano's bangs covered her eyes as wind blew against her cheek, "...Yes...I...think that's...a good idea..." she took a deep breath, "W-We...should get to know each other more..."

Taro smiled genuinely. Then they continued down the road, side by side.

 _'Please...'_

Ayano's eyes traveled to his face with her head still lowered as they walked forward.

 _'If you ever see the real me...'_

Her hand itched to hold his.

 _'Don't betray me...'_

But she didn't.

Turning down a corner, the two encountered a couple of tall boys with wild hair that is covered in gel, and Ayano noticed they are wearing Akademi's uniform. Each of them were carrying a dangerous tool as their weapon and had different shapes of pompadour hairstyles. Taro's face went pale.

"Oh no...they're the delinquents that always patrol behind the school..." he muttered under his breath, though Ayano heard it. She raised an eyebrow as she looks at the group, then she noticed they are surrounding someone. Taro also noticed. It was a girl, but not wearing any school uniform. She was crouching down with her hands covering her head, and her whole body trembled, clearly in fear. She had dark, messy hair as if she never combed them when she woke up from bed, and she had huge, ugly, dark circles around her violet eyes. She also wore very strange-looking dark-colored gloves that exposed her fingers and leggings with the same design. But they are slightly ripped now.

One of the boys grabbed her by the collar and pulled her up and shoved her back. She stumbled and ended up falling on the ground. They laughed. It was a disgusting noise that Ayano despised, clearly complete trash compared to Taro's.

"H-Hey! Leave her alone, man, that's not cool! Bullying a small girl in a large group of males is not right!" Taro yelled at them with an angry expression.

The delinquents turned around with an irritated frown on their faces that Ayano wants to tear apart. "What? What'd you say, you lil' brat?" The tallest one with a rather pointy tip and triangular-shaped pompadour hair walked out and approached Ayano and Taro. "Say it again, say it in my face."

"What's your problem, dude?! Like, are you serious right now? Ganging up on a helpless girl with weapons?" Taro remained on his ground.

"Oh, lay off." The delinquent pushed him, making him stumble back a few steps. Ayano's eyes widened and became hollow, and her expression darkened.

Taro walked back and pushed him back, "No, you lay off! I'm over here trying to go home and I see you guys bullying a girl from my class and I don't know who the hell you are!"

"Now listen here, you son of a b-" the delinquent reached out a hand to grab Taro by his neck, but another paler, slimmer hand grabbed his own. He snapped his head towards Ayano, looking annoyed. Ayano has a complete stoic face. "...Now look at what we've got here, a loser and another snotty girl who ain't knowin' their place." He pointed his baseball bat at her, threatening to smash her skull.

Ayano shoved him as hard as she could and surprised the delinquent when he fell on his bottom. He heard his other friends calling his name and was immediately embarrassed and furious. He stood up, turned to the rest of the group, and said, "Go ahead. First one to give me both of their heads wins ten thousand yens."

After his command, the rest of the boys all pulled out their weapons and wore a sick, menacing smile. Ayano chuckled humorlessly, then her expression darkened, "I love to see pitiful humans fighting each other..."

Without another reply, the shortest one with a mini pompadour launched himself and attacked her. She dodged and tried to knee him in the stomach, but he blocked with his crowbar, which made her wince from the pain. The girl that they were bullying yelped and closed her eyes. Taro yanked Mini Pompadour's collar and shoved him, "Dude, quit it! You're a man, quit picking on a girl!"

Mini Pompadour shoved him back, much harder than what he received. He raised his crowbar and tried to hit his head, but Ayano gave him an uppercut to the chin, which made a sickening, crunching noise.

The other boys became impatient and all dashed towards Ayano and Taro, leaving the girl behind.

Taro pulled out his phone and showed them the screen, and it shows the numbers, "110", being dialed. "Back off! I'm calling the police!" he yelled.

With a pause, the delinquents looked at each other with a troubled expression. Then Triangle Pompadour finally decided to call it off, "We'll remember you. Let's go, you maggots."

Ayano watched as they run off into the distance.

 _'H-He saw...'_

Her heart rate increased drastically.

 _'He saw...this side of me...'_

Cold sweat rolled down her forehead.

 _'He saw...this brutal side of me...'_

Her knees started to weaken.

 _'Senpai...saw...this disgusting side of me...'_

"U-Um..."

She stiffened when she heard a soft, feminine voice. She turned her head around and saw the victim girl walking over to them with a shy expression. She played with her fingers, her eyes staring at the ground. "I...I just...wanted to say...th-thank you...for...saving me..."

Taro smiled warmly, "Don't worry. If it weren't for your will to survive, we wouldn't have been successful."

So modest... Ayano looked at him with a pained expression. Her heart twitched at how pure this boy is. Millions of thoughts rushed into her mind. She became afraid of him, afraid to pollute his pure soul with her filthy touch. But she is selfish, and she doesn't want anyone else to touch him.

"M-My name...i-is...Oka...Ruto..." the girl said. Her voice was very timid, almost like she was sick.

Ayano heard this name before. She remembered listening to a couple of girls trash-talking her during morning, calling her creepy, weird, and impure. Though Ayano wanted nothing to do with her, she finds it very humorous to hear worthless humans insulting another worthless human.

"Ruto-senpai...is the leader of the occult club, am I right?" Ayano pointed out.

Oka beamed slightly, "Y-Yes...! Um...I-I mean...that is correct..." Then her smile faded, "Y-You...won't hate me...because of this...right...?"

"Of course not, Ruto-san. Judging another lovely person from what they like is certainly not what we'd do." Taro gave her an assuring smile, making her blush a little.

Ayano's finger twitched.

"Th...Thank you... You are...a good person...I can see how clean your soul is...there are...no signs of demons...in there..." Oka said, "Perhaps the world isn't such a dark and lonely place, after all..."

Ayano gave her a difficult look. She somehow cannot figure out how does this girl's mind work, and she cannot predict her actions at all. What a mystery. She wanted to find out more about her... Too bad, she stands in her way.

Another cockroach to eliminate. Another filthy trash-eater that wants her Taro.

The three had more conversations for the next ten minutes, until Taro realized it is getting too late. He waved to them and ran home. Ayano decided to follow him, but before she left, she walked just past Oka's shoulder and said in a low volume so only they can hear, "If I weren't such a generous person as you can tell..." shadows fell over her eyes, "You'd be dead where you stand."

Oka widened her eyes. When she snapped her head around to face her, Ayano already left. For some reason, Oka's entire body started to tremble, and she found it difficult to breathe.

She feels dark aura coming from that girl crawling on her back.

* * *

 **A/N: I hate this chapter so much, the writing is bad, the grammar is bad, the vocabulary is bad, the plot is bad...everything about this is bad.**


	5. Chapter 5

**Sorry for the late update, summer started for me on May 25, and I've been traveling and experiencing horrible Wi-Fi moments a lot. Japan was pretty fun. ~Phoenix**

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 _"I don't quite understand..." she said as she picked up the girl's chin with her bloodied hand, "Why do people think death is scary?" She cupped her cheeks with both hands and twisted it to the right, enjoying the sickening cracking noises coming from the girl's neck. "It's where we'll end up anyways."_

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During the silent darkness of nighttime, the girl known as Info-chan will be staying up on her computer, typing out the draft for the school's newspaper of the week. She will include any interesting facts about deaths or embarrassing moments of a girl, thanks to her certain guest. Then she will contact her clients, selling them delighting photos of girls' underwear as blackmail.

So sick, but so fun. It's so amusing to her twisted mind.

She was surprised by a sudden phone call from a familiar contact number. What does she have in mind to think of calling her this late?

"Anything you have for me?" Info-chan greeted the caller with a casual tone. Her heart beats in excitement, waiting for Ayano to give her any new disasters to be put on the newspapers. She fell for her even more after receiving the news about the death of Saki Miyu and Kokona Haruka. That psychotic monster never fails to make her proud.

Ayano is so precious.

Info-chan hears quiet murmurs from the other side and couldn't make out what she was trying to say. "Speak louder, I don't have time for this," she demanded.

The caller fell silent for a few seconds, then said, "I don't want to do this anymore..."

Info-chan's heart stopped. "...What...do you mean...?"

"...I want to break our 'contract'."

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Info-chan woke up with beads of sweat rolling down her forehead, soaking her clothes. It was a dream...no, a nightmare after all.

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It was a warm and quiet afternoon in a Sunday. There were little to no clouds, and the only sounds heard are birds chirping and people weeping. The funeral takes place in a graveyard far away from Akademi High. The headmaster says it would ruin the school's reputation if it's too close to it.

Ayano Aishi touches the tombstone with the name "Kokona Haruka" carved in all capital letters, feeling the rough texture under the tip of her fingers. It felt very cold, very pleasing to her. "Nice to see you again, Haruka-senpai... Did you miss me?" she asks, chuckling to herself.

There wasn't an answer, there would never be an answer. She's dead, she's gone for good, and she won't ever be returning.

"How does it feel? To be under the soil that everyone steps on, I meant." Ayano crouched down and played with the dirt that buried the corpses. "You know...the first time I met you, I liked you a lot. Really, I do. I loved how much of a pervert you are, and how shameless you act... But then you just had to make that one mistake. You were dangerous to be around, because you were after the only thing that gave me life, that I desire... So I did you a favor. I made your nasty life even more similar to hell. That way, you would want to die! You wouldn't want to live anymore! And then, at your most fragile, depressing point...I eliminated you. Now, you're free! No more insults can be heard, no more people would remember you as time flows by! Isn't this just a perfect ending to your story?"

She dug into the ground and finally revealed the dead girl's face. Her skin is very pale and slightly blue, and the smell of a rotting corpse is released into the environment. "Ha ha...look at you... So ugly, so hideous, but at the same time, so charming..." Ayano reached out a hand and forced Kokona's right eye open with her pointer finger and middle finger. The girl's violet iris lost its reflection and is pointed up, and red veins are shown at the bottom of the white part. "Too bad not everyone will have the chance to enjoy the beauty of death so soon in their life except you...and of course, your dear 'friend.'" Ayano lets go of Kokona's skin and begins to plunge the dirt back, covering the dead body.

Ayano stood up and looks at Saki Miyu's grave. The black-and-white photo of her is placed nicely on the small shelf in front of the tombstone, along with a couple of snacks and food she favored in her living times.

"Oh, my... Miyu-senpai, looks like you are now reunited with the friend you betrayed and hurt deeply. Are you happy now? First deceiving Haruka-senpai by showing her what you call 'friendship'...that empty, fake relationship people use just to get benefits from. You used her dumb, innocent mind to teach her things you liked, so you can amuse yourself... But then you realized that she isn't innocent, so you threw her away like a broken toy. And yet you blamed me... Oh, Miyu-senpai, ever heard of hypocrisy? Because you, darling, are the exact example of one," Ayano said, walking over to the grave with a wicked grin. "But, I guess...happy endings are something everyone deserves, right? And I became the author and wrote a dead end as your happy ending."

She pulled out her phone and looked at the time. It is currently 8:35 A.M, she is late to class. "Ah, seems like I've missed the bell... Oh, well. It was nice talking to you two, my dear senpais! Just kidding," her expression darkened, "You both are boring and a waste of my time." She begins to walk to the exit of the graveyard. Before she steps out, she turns her head slightly and eyes the two tombstones one last time, "See you never, dirty trash-eaters."

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"Masuta-senpai."

The leader of the martial arts club turned around to face his student. Her long, brown hair is drenched with sweat and a little messy, and her forehead and neck are red and reflecting the light from the ceiling.

"What is it, Rai?" Budo asks.

Mina Rai stayed silent for a moment then said, "Lately, I've noticed how you were spacing off. Um...was it because of that...i-incident?"

Budo Masuta didn't reply. He takes a deep breath, crossed his arms, and walked to the window on the right side. The orange sky reminded him that night is arriving, and almost everyone left the school grounds. Mina is a loyal apprentice, so she would always stay by his side unless he tells her not to.

Maybe that's what attracted Sho Kunin to her...but she doesn't know.

Yesterday was the first time Budo has experienced the feeling of helplessness in a long time. To see two girls, who were once best friends in their lifetime, now using violence against each other, he was the one who could not do anything to prevent the deaths. A grown boy who learned martial arts since birth couldn't even compete with four weak girls. What a failure, Budo laughed at himself bitterly.

"M-Masuta-senpai?" Mina questioned, "Are you alright?"

"Rai...do you think I am weak?" Budo asked instead. He turned around and faced the girl, "Aren't I hilarious? I acted all high and mighty... I wanted to teach you all self-defense techniques... I quoted Bruce Lee on all of you to motivate you all, and yet I'm the one who couldn't do anything to save two girls' lives..."

Mina narrowed her eyebrows, "Don't say that, Masuta-senpai...! You...you are strong, and all of us—me, Sho, and Juku—we all look up to you!"

Budo chuckled humorlessly and made a bitter, sad expression, "I couldn't even save two girls' lives... And when I was stabbed and pushed to the ground, all I could feel was pain... Not from the wound, but from the defeat. I couldn't stand up, couldn't breathe, couldn't even think. I wanted to scream, to call for help, but the other half of me was the stubborn mule inside me. That side of me...told myself that I could be the one pinning down Miyu, I could be the one saving Haruka, I could..." he took a deep, shaky breath, "...I could be the one preventing the loss of two lives..."

"Senpai...you...y-you did your best..." Mina tried to tell him, tried to let him know that it wasn't his fault. "Masuta-senpai...not everything can be put on your shoulders. If you keep on weighing yourself down with all of this pressure...one day, you will fall...you...you won't be able to move your body, a-and you won't be able to go forward. You will be left behind..." she gave him a sad smile, "You will be left behind...like Juku."

The leader of this club widened his eyes at the mention of Juku Ren.

Mina continued, "Juku used to be brave, and probably the bravest one after you, Senpai. But...when that incident with the delinquents...just in that one day, h-he wouldn't believe in himself again. He would always ask help from a teacher, and he wouldn't give himself a chance. Juku gave himself pressure and blamed himself for everything that happened, and now look at what happened to him. Masuta-senpai..." she paused and looked at him with stern eyes and said with a strict tone, "Please drop all of your burdens...and continue running down your path freely. And...next time...please..." she inhaled, "Let us all carry your troubles with you."

"Rai..."

"S-Senpai, please...don't blame yourself anymore..."

That moment was the first time Budo saw Mina Rai cry. Budo didn't hug her. He was never good at comforting people. All he could say is thank you and sorry.

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The next day arrived with raining and thunderstorms. Ayano laughed to herself silently when she sees the usual smiles on the students' faces. Even after the death of two girls who are both kind and popular, these people forgot about them immediately in just merely two days. Did their memories of Saki Miyu and Kokona Haruka get washed away by the rain?

Pitiful, pitiful, pitiful.

Osana Najimi sees the charcoal-haired girl standing alone on the rooftop, showering in the cold raindrops, leaning against the railing. She frowns and calls out to her while still taking shelter at the staircase that leads to the roof, "Hey! Don't stand there in the storm! You're gonna get sick!"

Ayano was slightly taken aback by the fact that the girl she wanted to kill worrying about her wellbeing. She sighs and smiles to herself, then she obeys Osana and comes inside.

The orange-haired girl pulled out a pink handkerchief and helped wipe the dirty water from Ayano's face and neck. "Jeez...what do you think you're doing, getting a shower?" She takes Ayano's hand and starts cleaning her arm. "You'll get sick if I weren't so generous..."

 _'Disgusting... Trying to act like a saint so you can lure me in? Your tricks are way too easy to see through...'_

"Thank you, Najimi-senpai..."

Osana's face reddened a little. She averted her eyes, avoiding Ayano's stare and puts her handkerchief away, "Don't get used to it... T-Taro said it's human nature to be kind, to help one another, s-so..."

Ayano's hands balled up into a tight fist. That was something Taro Yamada told her, so it should be her only. Why does this wench steal everything she has?

But no matter, justice will be served. Thieves will get what they deserve in the end.

"You know..."

Ayano snapped out of her thoughts.

"...Taro told me about what happened that day. Um...I-I really thought you were b-brave, and... D-Don't take that the wrong way!" Osana takes a deep breath to steady her pace, "You know...Taro told me that I should try to get closer with you. So, um, c-consider this as an offer! W-Whether or not we become friends, i-it's your choice!"

And with that, Osana turned her heels and ran away nervously. _'Ahh...I messed up, I messed up... Stupid, STUPID pride!'_ she thought.

The bell rang, meaning class is now starting. Ayano walked to her own classroom at her own steady pace. She ignored her teacher's lecture and sat in her seat.

Whatever Rino Fuka taught, Ayano ignored them all. She didn't need to hear more of another trash-eater's voice.

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"Shin Higaku?" Ayano examined the photo.

"This guy is the substitute leader of the infamous occult club. While their leader is absent, he'll be the one operating the club activities and managing the members," Info-chan said. She pushed her glasses further up on the bridge of her nose. "You wanted to get rid of the leader, right? Well, maybe gathering some information about her through this guy can be very useful to you."

Ayano rubbed her chin and thought about this idea. Her provider pulled out her phone and flipped through one of her photo albums that contains all of the panty shots Ayano sent.

The two girls sat on the booth seats of a pub somewhere in the middle of Shisuta Town. It is dark inside, but the flashing, colorful lights made certain objects visible. Somewhere at the center on the side is where people take their order of a cocktail. In the center is where the dance floor takes place. Ayano hated how the loud music can almost pound against her eardrums.

A drunk man who looked like he's in his mid-age walked over and puts an arm around Info-chan, who was shockingly calm. Ayano's nose cringed from the smell of alcohol coming from his breath. "Hey sugar, this club is way too boring...you wanna come with me and join my 'club?'" he asked with a perverted grin.

Ayano raised an eyebrow, unamused.

The man leaned his head towards the expressionless red-haired girl and puckered his lips, trying to kiss her cheek. Info-chan immediately reached out a hand and grabbed him by the chin, using her fingers and thumb and pushed against his cheeks, forcing his mouth open, in which made him make weird noises out of protest. Then she snatched Ayano's glass of wine (she didn't drink a single drop of it) and violently chugged him down. A lot of the alcohol spilled everywhere, mostly on his face. Once all of the wine is gone, Info-chan releases her grip. The man falls onto the ground and covered his face in pain, and he rolled on the floor, screeching. Another man, probably one of his friends, ran over here and dragged him away, apologizing to the two girls beforehand.

Info-chan picked up her order of a cocktail and took a sip of it, letting the burning sensation flow through her tastebuds. The lenses of her glasses glimmered and she said, "The best way to gather information...is to join their club-"

"No. Anything but joining a club works." An immediate rejection.

The red-haired girl chuckled and set her glass of alcohol down on the glass table. "You're really difficult to work with, you know?" She didn't expect a reply.

Ayano suddenly thought of something, "The one I want dead is Osana Najimi, not the creepy-looking girl who looked like she's sleep deprived. Osana Najimi is currently active in school, I don't want to waste my time dealing with some wench who isn't even around."

Info-chan stared at her in silence with widened eyes, then after a few seconds she started to chuckle, then it grew into loud laughters. She laughed so hard, her stomach is starting to hurt. Ayano looked at her with a questioning expression. Just as she was about to ask, Info-chan's smile immediately faded into a dark, menacing look. She slammed her palm onto the table, making Ayano flinch in surprise. With a deep voice, she said, "Listen here, you brainless psychopath. Osana Najimi is your dear senpai's childhood friend, your dear senpai's best friend. He'll be with her for the entire school day. Without my help, you won't even be able to have the thought of getting near her. During the days where you get information about the occult club president, you can continue to interact with your precious senpai like usual, and get close to Osana. Then, once the occult club president returns, you are free to eliminate both at the same time without hesitation. Understand me, now?"

Ayano stared at her, unable to make a sound. She swallowed the lump in her throat that prevented her from talking and inhaled, then finally said, "I-I understand..."

Her provider smirked and patted her head and caressed her chin, looking at her with a fox-like smile that somehow shows adore towards her. Ayano stiffened in discomfort.

"I have a question..."

Info-chan raised an eyebrow, her smirk still glued on her face, "Spit it."

"...What do you have against Osana Najimi? I-I mean...the first time we've met-"

"The first time you met me," Info-chan corrected.

"...Whatever. The first time I met you, you seemed to hold a grudge against her, telling me you would be glad if something bad happened to her. What...is the reason you hate her?"

Info-chan stayed quiet. She withdrew her hand from Ayano's chin and stood up straight. She turned around and began to leave. Right before she did so, she turned her head slightly and said, "Mind your own business. You're a client, and I'm a provider. That's all we need to know about each other."

Then she left, leaving Ayano in confusion.

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A sneeze interrupted the silence. Taro placed his jacket on Osana's shoulders to give her warmth, making her blush in the middle of it. Osana rubbed her nose and looked at him, "W-What are you doing..."

Taro smiled, "Your sickness hasn't completely disappeared, yet, you should take it easy."

Osana's face glowed in red. She made a fuming face and raised her volume, "I-I am not that weak-"

But when she wasn't looking, she bumped into someone else that was walking in the opposite direction of the two, which made her yelp in a high pitch. Books flew to the ground and made loud noises against the floor.

"A-Ah...I'm...s-sorry..." Osana stuttered and stared at the person she bumped into. He was about the same height as Taro, and similar hairstyles, except his is much more messier and curlier. His hair color is a very deep and dark shade of indigo. His skin is an unhealthy pale, which contrasted greatly with his hair and made the huge, dark circles around his eyes more visible.

Taro chuckled sheepishly, "Um, we're sorry, er..." He trailed off when he realized he doesn't know his name. From his appearance, he seems like he is a senior, but definitely not from Taro's class. Probably from class 3-1.

"M-Me, too..." he muttered under his breath and bowed in apology, not catching the hint of giving out his name. Then he crouched down and began to pick up the books he dropped. Just as Osana and Taro were about to bend down, another hand about almost as pale as the boy reached out and helped him pick up his books.

"A-Aya..Aishi-san?" Taro was surprised.

Osana's heart dropped slightly.

Ayano's heart is racing like crazy, but she built up the courage and greeted the two upperclassmen. "Yamada-senpai, Najimi-senpai." Not waiting for them to greet back, she turned her head towards the boy with a smile and greeted him, too, "Higaku-senpai." Then she continued to help him pick up the books. Now is not the time to be worrying about her relationship with Taro Yamada.

Shin Higaku was taken aback slightly by this stranger girl's actions, but smiled to himself and continued to organizing his books. Osana and Taro also helped them. Ayano reached out for the last book, and her hand met Taro's hand when he reached out at the same time. They both stiffened for a second, then both withdrew their hands at the same time. While Taro is only a bit embarrassed, Ayano is practically producing steam from her burning face. Not knowing the situation, Shin picked up the last book instead.

"Um...th-thank you..." Shin said to Ayano quietly. Then he turned to Taro and Osana, "Thank you..."

Ayano gave him a fake bright smile and replied, "It's nothing. After all, helping one another is human nature."

Osana widened her eyes, and Taro's face reddened more. Quoting him is going to be a trend soon.

Shin bowed again and said goodbye and was about to leave, but Ayano stopped him by placing a hand on his shoulder, which made him flinch a little. "Wait a moment, Higaku-senpai... I want to discuss some...business with you. _Privately._ " Then Ayano gave him another sweet smile. Though Shin is blushing, his mind is torn between being scared or flustered.

Without a word, Ayano grabbed his hand and hurried down the hallway and downstairs. Osana and Taro shared a confused look.

"U-Um, please stop for a moment!"

Ayano stopped running and released Shin's hand. The senior skidded to a stop, right before bumping into her. She turned around to face him and tilted her head in confusion, "Is there any problem, Higaku-senpai?"

Shin replied, "Other than someone I don't know randomly grabbing my hand and dragging me away, there's not much..."

Her response was a chuckle. She used her fingers and pushed her hair behind her ear and looked at him straight in the eye. "Higaku-senpai, I wanted to ask you about Ruto-senpai's condition."

He stiffened at the mention of his leader. Oka Ruto mysteriously disappeared a few weeks ago and has not left a single message of her whereabouts, so Shin and the rest of the members of the occult club are very worried about her.

"Why...w-why do you ask?"

"I borrowed some of her stuff, in which are currently at my place. I just want to know when will she be available at school so I can return it to her."

Though Shin knows clearly that this girl is lying, he is afraid to point out, afraid to know what does she have planned for his leader. But he is also curious. Mostly because he does not want her to hurt his leader in any ways possible. And so he nodded in response.

Ayano smiled brightly, a little too brightly, "Thank you very much, Higaku-senpai. I owe you one." Then she skipped away happily, leaving Shin with many questions stuck in his head.

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For many weeks since school started, Shin Higaku tried to contact the original leader of the club and ask her why isn't she attending school. He always gets ignored. Is there something about him that just makes girls ignore him?

Today he tried to call her again, and surprisingly, he received an answer.

"H-Hello...?" a weak, feminine voice responded.

Hearing the voice of their leader, the other club members set their books to the side. Daku Atsu adjusted his glasses.

"Leader? Are you doing well?"

"Shin..."

"Leader, when are you going to return? Mid-term exams are starting in a few weeks, and you haven't shown up in any class at all. I just wanted to know if everything's fine."

"Um...I-I'll be back soon... Perhaps this Friday...or maybe next week..."

"Really? That's a relief..."

"Y-Yes... Shin, um, th-thank you for all of your work...helping me...take care of this club...during the days when I'm absent..."

Shin chuckled, "That's my duty, Leader. Well, hope you'll rest well. All of us...Daku, Kokuma, Supana, Chojo, and me...we all miss you."

"Y-Yes... I miss you all, too... Um...b-bye..."

Without any reason why she's leaving, Oka Ruto hung up. Shin sighs and turns off his phone. The other club members picked up their books and went back reading.

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"Ayano-chan, Ayano-chan!" the green-haired girl called out.

Ayano groaned and turned around to face her. "Gurin-san..."

To her surprise, Midori Gurin grabbed Ayano's right hand with both of her hands and pulled to the height of her chest. She looked at her with starry eyes and red cheeks, "Ayano-chan, I just realized that you haven't joined a single club, yet! What a pity, you know? Would you like to join the gaming club? Although it's not in the FAQ, yet, I'm sure that joining the gaming club will give you the most fun you'll ever have!"

Feeling embarrassed from all the stares they're earning, Ayano's face reddened. She jerked her hand away from this bizarre, annoying girl. "No, I am not going to join any club. I have better things to do than wasting my time on worthless activities in the afternoon." With that, she turned her heels and speed-walked away. Midori, though, did not give up. She starts to run after Ayano, yelling out, "Ayano-chan! Please! Join a club! Join the gaming club!"

Ayano snapped her head back to see Midori chasing after her. Startled, Ayano sprints as fast as she can. It's almost as if dust is coming out of the two from running to fast. Shiori Risa, Midori's teacher, carried a huge stack of papers and was on her way to the faculty room. Ayano sees her right in front of her and barely dodged her. The teacher was spun to the direction Ayano was going to, nearly dropping her papers. She adjusted her glasses with one hand and made a frustrated expression.

"No running in the hall-" she began, but then Midori crashed into her before she finished. Now, all of the papers are on the ground. One landed on Midori's head. Both the teacher and the student are sitting on the ground, slightly dizzy from the strong impact. Shiori Risa adjusted her glasses again and glared daggers at Midori. "Gurin-san...what do you think you're doing?"

Midori shook her head to get the "stars" she was seeing earlier away. "A-Ah...M-Ms. Risa..."

"Why do you always have to cause me trouble?"

"I...I was just..."

Shiori sighed helplessly and began picking up the papers. "I don't have time for this. Please help me pick these up."

Midori can only obey.

Meanwhile, not knowing what happened behind her, Ayano turned down the corner and ran inside the martial arts clubroom. She looked around a hiding spot but couldn't find any, so her only choice is to go inside the changing booth. She dragged the curtain away and hid herself in the tiny space after pulling it back. She opened the curtain ever-so-slightly to take a look at Midori's whereabouts.

"E-Excuse me..." a masculine voice came from behind her.

Ayano turned around to see the leader of this club standing there awkwardly, his torso completely exposed. Budo Masuta raised an eyebrow and asked, "Forgive me for asking, but-"

"No, don't ask," Ayano interrupted and turned back around to spy on the outside. If she were any other annoying girl, she would've reacted very differently. The cliché blushing and squealing, then covering eyes and repeatedly saying she's sorry. Ayano never saw a problem with seeing the opposite gender without a top on.

Budo looked through the small opening of the curtain and tried to see what this girl is looking at, but couldn't find anything different. "What are you trying to hide from?"

"Some unknown green creature that came from class 2-2," she answered bluntly.

"...Gurin-san?"

"Correct."

"Oh...well, Gurin-san is quite a wonder, to be honest."

Seeing that there is no longer a threat, Ayano sighed in relief and walked out of the booth. Budo puts on his top and ties the black belt around his waist and exits, also.

"Why were you running away from her?" he asks as he ties a bow with his belt.

Ayano wanted to click her tongue in annoyance from this annoying senior, but she answered politely, "She was forcing me to join a club, and I didn't want to. Her stubborn personality motivated her to chase after me, and now I ended up here." She turned around and faced Budo, then bowed deeply in apology, "I'm sorry if I appeared rude and strange. I'll be leaving now." Then she walked out of the martial arts clubroom.

Budo crossed his arms and stared at the back of the underclassman with an amused expression. "What a pity...I thought she'd be perfect for the martial arts club."

Inside the info clubroom, Info-chan stares at her computer screen with her trademark fox-like grin. Her screen shows the face of Budo Masuta in his clubroom, after talking to Ayano. Info-chan's smile stretched further.

"My darling Ayano, I'm afraid I'll have to destroy your chance of joining this club..."

* * *

 **A/N: I apologize for the boring chapter. I have a lot of plans for this story, and I've been hesitating if I should use them all. One of the ideas I really liked but very hesitant about is that I would like Oka Ruto to first fall for Senpai, but then realizing she won't have a chance, then she slowly falls for Ayano. Is this idea okay with you guys? And there will be many Ayano x Budo moments in the future and a couple of other Ayano shipping moments (sorry if you're not into that), but in the end Senpai will be the ending (sorry if you're not into that). If you have suggestions or ideas, please, do tell me them by giving reviews.**


	6. Chapter 6

**Sorry for such a late update, I was in China since May 25 for summer vacation, but Wattpad was blocked there. I wanted to upload new chapters at the same time on both of these websites, so I kept delaying until now. I'm so sorry, please forgive me. ~Phoenix**

* * *

 _"You're quite a strong one, huh? I've killed you over and over again, but I can still feel life inside you," she said with a smirk, staring at her victim with those hungry, hollow eyes. "But it's okay. You're in my hands anyway." With that she removed her head, blood dripping from underneath the neck._

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Today is a beautiful day. The sky has the lightest shade of blue, and no clouds can be seen within a thousand miles. The breeze blew comfortably on the girl's pale, delicate skin. She stepped forward and lifted her head up to look at the tall, sublime building made out of smooth, white stones that look like quartz. She brushed her messy bangs to the side and took a deep breath.

"I'm back, Akademi..." Oka Ruto said to herself.

Then she starts to walk towards the school building's entrance. Her red armband glowed under the golden sun.

.

.

Pippi Osu sets her bouquet of white lilies down on the dirt in front of Kokona's tombstone, which is much more cleaner and smoother than the ones around it, reminding people she passed away not too long ago. Hayato Haruki often likes to scare Kokona's friends, saying her vengeful soul might some day crawl out from the underground and haunt them down for what they've done when she was still alive.

A butterfly with rather disappointing and dull colors flew onto Saki's grave. Pippi smile and reached out her pointer finger, hoping the butterfly will fly onto it. She pouted when it flew to the opposite direction.

Suddenly, she hears footsteps behind her, getting louder and louder each step. She turned her head towards the entrance and sees a grown man with huge bags underneath his eyes and many wrinkles for his age coming in. He was holding a bouquet of white chrysanthemum. Observing him carefully, Pippi realized he and Kokona has some similar features, especially their nose and chin. She came to the hypothesis that he is her father. To show respect, Pippi stood up and bowed to him. "Good morning, sir," she greeted politely.

The man smiled and bowed back, "Good morning to you, too, young lady."

Pippi smiled, seeing that Kokona's father is quite a kind person.

He walked to Kokona's grave and set his flowers beside Pippi's, then he stood up straight and looked at the black-and-white photo of his daughter. Her smile was so bright, but all of that brightness was wiped away immediately by death. Pippi felt sick, knowing that Kokona's father is stepping on Kokona's corpse, buried underground.

To keep the school's reputation, the headmaster of Akademi High bribed the police to not make any of the deaths known by the news reporters. He wanted to keep them a secret, so students won't stop signing up for this school. That's why the corpses weren't burned, but buried underneath soil. This, Pippi decided to refrain from informing Mr. Haruka about.

"You're...Haruka-san's father, right?" she asked.

"I...yes, I am her father...a horrible, horrible father..." he replied, his eyes reflecting sorrowful emotions. He looked at Saki's grave and asked, "This...must be her friend, right?"

She nodded.

"How nice...at least...she has someone with her there."

"I'm sorry for you and your wife's loss..."

Mr. Haruka chuckled, "She's passed away last year."

Pippi decided not to go further into this sensitive topic.

But Mr. Haruka didn't stop. He knelt down, letting his fingers trace over Kokona's face on the photo. "You know...Kokona's mother is...was...a great woman. She was strong, she was good at culinary arts, she can make sacrifices, she...well...she was probably the most beautiful human I'll ever know."

"Well...maybe that's why Haruka-san is so good-looking..." Pippi responded, looking at Kokona's photo.

Mr. Haruka chuckled humorlessly, "Yes, Kokona resembles her mother a lot. Even in personalities..." he sighed, then took a deep breath and continued, "A couple months ago, I have to pay for Kokona's tuition fees. You should know, how expensive everything is there... It's a very rich and elegant school, so I'm sure Kokona will have a great time there. Well, she did, meeting new friends, learning new stuff, joining some clubs for fun... But for each semester, parents have to pay money to stay in the school. When my wife died...I lost a lot of money...too much. So...I decided to borrow money from some business known as Ronshaku Loans."

Pippi listened, not making a sound.

"But consequences will happen for every action you make. And for this action I made...there's a huge negative consequence... If I don't pay off my debt in time, those people I borrowed money from will harm my family greatly!"

Pippi widened her jade green eyes. "Loan sharks..." she muttered.

Mr. Haruka nodded. "And...I became a drunkard. I drank a whole lot, so much that I forget what I've done afterwards. Perhaps it's a way to escape reality, even if it's just for a short while... For months I've been doing this, helpless, earning so little money that I'm scared to meet those people. Then, recently, on Mondays, Kokona came back with a lot of cash that I don't know where it was from..."

Though not a fan of gossips, Pippi was sure the money can be connected to the rumor of Kokona being engaged in a compensated dating.

"I was afraid to ask. Then, then..." he started to choke, tears came out of his eyes and rolled down his cheeks. His shoulders trembled. He tried to wipe the tears off with his sleeves, but only to have more coming out, so he had his arm stay there, covering his eyes. "Then...th-then...everything...fell apart... K-Kokona...m-my dearest daughter... Th-Then..."

"Mr. Haruka..." Pippi's heart starts to twitch in pain for this poor man. The two most important women left him, now he is left alone with a low-income job and the nightmares of the loan sharks following him everywhere he goes.

He wiped his tears and sighed, "Crying won't bring her back... Say, young lady, do you have a boyfriend?"

Pippi's face reddened immediately. "E-Eh? W-Well...I...don't..." she trailed off. Her mind was filled with images of Ryuto Ippongo and his bright smile, then she thought of the mythical cherry blossom tree on the tiny hill behind the school. Tomorrow, Friday, is when the spell works. She plans to confess her feelings to him in the morning. "M-Maybe not now, but...I...do have someone I have feelings for..." she replied with a bashful smile.

Mr. Haruka smiled, somehow reflecting a bit of sadness, too. "How nice...to be young and full of plans. If Kokona were still here, she probably will have someone she likes, too..."

Pippi looked at him sympathetically.

"Oh, well. Whatever God has for me, I can't change it... I should be leaving now. Goodbye, young lady," he waved to her, who waved back, and walked out of the graveyard.

Pippi has decided to do anything she can to help him pay off his debts. It's the least she can do for her classmate and her father.

.

.

A week later will be the day when the Japanese festival starts. In the plaza, Koharu is braiding Mei's hair with her own rubber bands, and Yuna and Yui are leaning against the cherry blossom tree trunk. The boys are playing some card games they made up.

"Your ahoge won't stay down, Mei-chan..." Koharu said frustratingly, trying to push the strand of blue hair that's standing up on its own on Mei's head.

"I haven't done anything to it, but it's just like this..." Mei said helplessly while using her handkerchief to wipe the lenses of her glasses.

"Oh, since when did you get glasses?"

"I-I always wore contacts, but they broke last night, s-so..."

"Wear them, wear them! I wanna see you wearing them!"

Seeing Koharu with sparkly eyes and red cheeks, Mei sighed and puts on her glasses for her. Koharu beamed and hugged her tightly, surprising her for a moment. "Mei-chan looks so cuuuute!" Koharu squealed while rubbing her cheek against Mei's.

Yui sighed with an annoyed expression and looked away, crossing her arms.

"Yui-chan, do you want me to braid your hair for you?" Yuna asked, clasping her palms together.

She received an icy glare as a response. "I'm not like you, I don't like it when people touch my hair."

Yuna pouted disappointingly.

Mei suddenly remembered something and asked them, "Hey, next week is the festival. Do you girls have a kimono you like?"

"Kimono?!"

The girls turned their heads towards this foreign but familiar voice. A girl with dark tan skin, curly blonde hair, and too much makeup stood there, looking excited. Yui grunted in annoyance. Yuna sees that and whispers, "Who is she?"

Yui told her everything she knows. "Musume Ronshaku, daughter of the owner of Ronshaku Loans, spoiled rotten by her father, gets anything she wants. In short, just some spoiled brat who thinks she soooo up high and gorgeous. Look at that! She's desperately begging for attention on her butt, she even modified her skirt so short that her huge, fat rear can be a freaking table that holds it up so boys can stare at it!"

"Y-Yui-chan..." Yuna admires Yui's way of using metaphors.

Thankfully, said girl didn't hear her. She is blabbering with Koharu and Mei, telling them how excited she is about the festival and bragging about how beautiful and cute her kimono is. Koharu and Mei can only listen so they won't appear rude.

"I'm, like, super exhausted from talking, you know? Like, ohhhhh my Gooooood, I soooo need a smoke right now..." Musume said to herself rather loudly, then her eyes moved to the two girls she's talking to, hinting them. They didn't get it. Musume grunted, silently thinking how stupid they are, and asked, "Do you, like, have any ciggies on you? If you could, like, get me a pack of smokes, I'd soooo totally be your best friend for-EVER."

Koharu and Mei shared a troubled glance. Both of them remained silent.

Yui became more and more impatient. She was about to walk over to them to tell Musume to go away, but Yuna grabbed her shoulder and shook her head. People like Musume aren't worth it.

"Hurry! I'm, like, dying of smoke deprivation right now!" Musume tapped her foot impatiently.

Mei nervously pushes her glasses further upwards on the bridge of her nose. "U-Um...sorry, Musume-chan...none of us smoke, s-so..." she stuttered timidly, afraid to anger this rich, aggressive girl.

"Y-Yeah, i-it's illegal for us at this age..." Koharu added.

Musume huffed and crossed her arms, "Ooooh, look at little miss goody-two-shoes over here. Think you're better than me just because you don't smoke?" She turned around and walked in a sassy way to the inside of the school building. "What-EVERRRRR!"

Behind the fountain, Ayano listened to their conversations. Perhaps she can buy some cigarettes and frame Osana for smoking.

.

.

"Cigarettes?" Info-chan repeated. She puts her phone on speaker mode and sets it on the table besides her mouse so she can continue typing the draft for the school's newspaper. "For what? Are you trying to befriend someone?"

"No, I want to frame Osana Najimi for smoking. That way, the teachers will be more cautious about her actions, and it'll ruin her reputation in the school, especially for my dear senpai."

"As much as we both want to, I'm going to warn you, Osana Najimi is quite a good student. It'll be a bit difficult to make people believe it."

"...W-Well...that'll be my problem. I'm just asking you for cigarettes."

"You're going to have to pay for this, you know?"

"...H-How much..." Ayano asked, voice slightly trembling.

"I'll give you a discount. Three panty shots. Don't get used to it, I'm simply awarding you for your efforts of Saki Miyu and Kokona Haruka's amazing news. I earned a whole lot from that. Oh, and Saki Miyu's panty shot, too. That one was much more clearer to see than all my other ones."

"Three..."

"Too cheap? How about-"

"No, no, that's enough. I'll get you three."

"Pleasure doing business with you."

Ayano hung up.

Info-chan smirked and looked at her computer file that contains pictures of all the existing panty shots, some were sold many more times than others. "Don't disappoint me, my dear client..." she muttered to herself, a mysterious shade of red coloring her cheeks.

.

.

Lunch time arrived quickly. Students who didn't bring their own lunch rushed to the cafeteria to buy their food. Ayano decided to ditch lunch again. She looked around and tried to find a girl who is alone by herself so she can have a chance to take a picture of her underwear. Unfortunately, there is none.

Sighing in disappointment to herself, Ayano walked upstairs to the rooftop to see if there's anymore people. Nothing has changed. Like usual, the mysterious Basu sisters are sitting on the bench, eating their food from their lunch boxes. Ayano sees that they have nicely made rice, some omelettes, two tiny pieces of sandwiches, and some vegetables. Probably something their mother made. Thinking of this, Ayano decides to look away.

Once she turned her head, she sees Midori Gurin standing directly in front of the sisters, leaning on her stomach against the railing with her arms dangling in mid-air. She walked up to the green-haired girl and said, "Gurin-san, what are you doing?"

Midori raised her head and looked at her with a bright smile, "Ah, Ayano-chan, hello! I'm just trying become skinnier!"

"Skinnier? How?" Ayano is slightly confused by Midori's logic.

"Well, you see, if I squeeze my stomach on this railing hard and long enough, it'll probably make my belly's shape look much more thinner!"

"I-Is that how it works...?" Ayano is really confused by Midori's logic. She was just about to leave, but then she realized that maybe she can use Midori's stupidity and trick her to give her a chance to take a panty shot. "Gurin-san, could you please follow me for a moment?"

She gladly obeyed.

Ayano led her downstairs to the third year floor. There were students sitting on the floor against the wall with their friends, eating lunch and chatting. Some were eating lunch in the classroom while studying to retake an exam at the same time.

Budo Masuta walked out of his classroom with his white martial arts uniform and black belt in his hand, about to head to the club room. He suddenly sees the Ayano passing by with Midori following her. Something about the black-haired girl really worries him.

The first time they talked was at the reunion of Saki Miyu and Kokona Haruka. She told him to not interrupt their conversation. At the beginning he didn't really mind, but after Saki stabbed Kokona, she remained completely calm and indifferent. That was the first time he actually paid attention to her features. Not a single sign of fear was shown in her eyes. In fact, not a single sign of emotion was shown in her eyes. It was something, just for a split second, that made Budo feel admiration swarm inside his chest. As someone who dedicated his life into martial arts, he always aimed to throw away his emotions when fighting seriously. She had one of the best requirements to qualify as a martial arts club member. Her eyes were completely hollow and dark, like a doll. No light can be reflected.

"Once you see something too many times, you'll get used to it" was what she replied when he asked how can she remain indifferent after the traumatizing sight of a murder scene. What did she mean by that? The only accurate conclusion is that she's been through much more worse and terrifying experiences throughout her childhood.

Budo shook his head and decides to put this to a side and greet them normally, "Good afternoon, you two. Where are y'all going?"

The two girls stopped running and turned around to look at him. Budo has the chance to observe Ayano's face more. Very pale skin, almost unhealthy, clearly the result of not sleeping and eating well. Not even the lightest makeup was put on. Before Ayano could say anything, Midori shoved her to the side to answer his question, pointing at her, "She said she's going to show me something really cool! You wanna come, Budo-chan?"

"B-Budo-chan?" His cheeks became red when he heard this embarrassing nickname. Anyhow, he's an upperclassman, one level higher than her, shouldn't she show more respect when talking to him?

"I never said I'll show you something cool," Ayano commented. This is the first time Budo noticed how her tone is like when she talks. No emotions, just in one tone. Either she is tired or bored. But it doesn't sound bad. It's very unique, compared to any other girls in this school. Budo likes her voice.

"Hmm?" Midori raised and eyebrow.

The martial arts club leader sighed helplessly. "I'll be heading to my club, now. See you," he said, waving goodbye.

"Okay! See ya!" the green-haired girl replied cheerfully.

Ayano only bowed and muttered, "Goodbye..."

Budo frowned, somehow disappointed to see her not saying anymore, though she didn't really have to. He suddenly thought of something and called out, "Hey, hold on!" When they stopped walking, he motioned Ayano to come to him. Ayano and Midori shared a confused glance, then Ayano groaned inwardly and walked to him. Why does this boy always have to slow her down? Perhaps she should get rid of him some day. Budo grabs her gently by her arm and brings her a few more steps further from Midori, as if afraid to let her hear what he's about to say next.

"M-Masuta-senpai?" Ayano questioned.

Having the advantage of being tall, Budo peers over Ayano's head to see if Midori's following them. Once he assures she isn't, he turns back to Ayano and lifts her hair from her ear. He leans over and whispers in her ear, "Meet me in my clubroom after school the moment the bell rings. I want to talk with you about something."

Ayano's ear turned red after feeling his warm breath blowing at it. When Budo stood back up straight, she rubbed her ear to get rid of the itchy feeling. "Why? Is there something I can help you with?"

Budo only flashed her a smile and waved goodbye to her. He ran downstairs, out of her sight.

 _'Weirdo...'_ Ayano thought. Then she remembered about Midori and ran back to her.

"Ayano-chan, what did he say to you?" Midori asked, curious as always.

Ayano shrugged. She grabbed her hand and led her down the hallway, right by the staircases. Then she turned to the restrooms and brought Midori into the girls' bathroom. It's either Midori's imagination, or it's much more darker than the second and first year floors' girls' restrooms. It's also much more colder, too.

"Ayano-chan, w-why are we in here?" Midori asked, her voice much more quieter than usual. She seems scared, just the way Ayano wanted it. "I've got real bad feelings about this...like, REAL bad feelings..."

"Gurin-san, pull out your phone."

"H-Huh?"

"Pull out your phone, please."

"Okay..." Midori does as she was told. She pulled out her phone from her shirt's pocket on the chest and turned it on. "Why do I need my phone?"

Ayano walked farther into the restroom, enjoying the cold air touching her skin. She had her hands held together behind her back and a type of smile that shows she is enjoying something. She pressed her fingers softly against the freezing wall and examined the tiles. "You know...there is a legend about a ghost that roams around in here."

"G-Ghost?!"

"Indeed. You've seen many Japanese urban legends about ghosts haunting bathrooms, right? Hanako-san, Red and Blue cape, Tripping Bathroom...which one is not about a mysterious death that happens in a bathroom? In the year of 1989, there lived a beautiful, young girl who has a kind heart and free spirit that goes to this very school. You see, just like any school girls, she falls in love. She falls in love with a boy, who loves nature. He was just as kind as her. But then..."

Midori feels a cold shiver being sent down her spine. She gulped nervously and said, "G-Go on..."

Ayano smirked at her listener's reactions. It was hilarious. She just wished she knows how to laugh. "But then, there was another girl that loves him, too. That girl was a loner. She stays away from people and social events. A strange girl, you can tell. She loved that boy, too. She won't let anyone get in her way to be with him. Including our main character."

On cue, they heard a loud thunder clap from outside. It must be another raining day. Midori screeched and jumped at the sudden noise. "W-What was that?!"

"Don't worry, it was merely a thunder." For some reason, there was a menacing aura surrounding Ayano. She had a grin similar to Info-chan's fox-like smile, but Midori did not see it. She chuckled lightly and continued, "That strange girl...let's just name her 'R' for now. R was a jealous girl. She absolutely hated our main girl. So she killed her."

Midori widened her eyes, her irises became hollow and no longer reflect light. Her mouth opened, but no sound came out. Her throat feels like it is blocked by something.

Ayano sighed lightly and walked past Midori's shoulder, her hands still behind her back. "Thirty-seven stabs in total, all in the chest. Her screams can pierce through heaven, yet nobody heard it. She didn't die immediately. R looked at her with hungry eyes that show satisfaction. She left the victim on the ground here, slowly dying. She survived her wound for seven hours and thirty-five minutes, died at exactly twelve o'clock. 'I will haunt you down, and I will find you in my afterlife. Even if you burned into ashes, I will be able to know you. I will drag you down to hell with me,' she said. She used all of her strength and cursed R out. She repeated that over and over again, and her eyes remained open even when her life drained away."

A pregnant silence fell. Neither of the two made a sound. Thunder and lightning crashed together, almost as annoying as a walking parade traveling down a town. Midori cleared her throat, and a drop of cold sweat fell down from her head. Goosebumps covered her arm, either from the cold or from the legend.

"Then...you told me this story... W-What does it have to do with my phone?" Midori asked.

Ayano laughed humorlessly. She raised her hand and pointed to the wall opposite of the door, "She's right here. Come on, take a picture of her if you like. She'd gladly pose for you."

More sweat rolled down Midori's head. She wants to run away, but at the same time, her stubborn, curious personality pushed her to pull out her phone's camera. Her hands feel very cold and are trembling. Her breathing shortened, and her heart rate increased.

"Go on," said Ayano, giving Midori's back a little push. She lost balance and stumbled forward. Then she slowly turned her head around to look at Ayano, as if trying to use her eyes and send a message saying, "Are you sure about this?" She received a nod as a response. She gulped again and raised her phone up with both hands' pointer finger and thumb.

At the same time, Ayano pulled out her own phone and turned on the camera. She walked forward a few tiny steps so she stands right by Midori's shoulder. Then she sneaked her hand that's holding her phone right underneath the oblivious green-haired girl's skirt, the perfect angle to take a panty shot.

"Alright, I-I'm gonna do it, I'm gonna do it, I'm gonna do it!" Midori chanted repeatedly. She squeezed her eyes shut tightly, afraid to see the result.

Both girls pressed the camera button at the same time.

Nobody said a thing. Ayano turned her head to see the photo she took on her phone, and she is quite satisfied with how it came out. A clear shot of Midori's green underwear was shown on her phone's screen. She quickly turned off her phone and sneaked it back into her pocket, almost as if nothing has happened.

The five seconds of silence felt like five hours to Midori. She hesitantly opened her large, emerald eyes to look at her phone. It shows a girl who is entirely white and is a little transparent staring at her with those spine-chilling eyes that have no irises. She was so shocked that she forgot to scream. Her hands trembled even more, until they finally lost grip of her phone and dropped it onto the hard floor. Luckily she finds no cracks on the screen when she picked it up.

Ayano herself was also slightly surprised. She's heard about the legend before from the two Basu sisters, but she didn't expect it to be real. Maybe she can use this to eliminate the occult club president.

Midori spun around to face Ayano with a terrified expression on her blue face, "A-A-A-A...Ayano-chan! G-G-G-Ghost!"

Ayano responded indifferently, "Yes, Gurin-san, a ghost-"

"Ayano-chan, ghost!" Midori interrupted.

"Yes, I know, ghost-" Ayano tried to say.

"AYANO-CHAN, GHOST!" Midori interrupted again, this time completely freaking out.

Ayano's eye twitched out of frustration, "...Gurin-san, I-"

"I HAVE TO SHOW THIS TO EVERYONE!" Midori begins scream excitedly and jumps around nonstop.

"No, no, Gurin-san, wai-"

Not waiting to hear what Ayano was about to say, Midori raced against time and sprinted outside. Ayano sighed helplessly, then looked back at the direction where the phantom girl was. She frowned, something about that ghost's aura really bothers her. For a split second she thought she felt the ghost reaching out to her with a pair of vengeful eyes. She shook her head, deciding to not waste her time on this useless question, and walked out of the restroom.

Her number one priority right now is to gather information about Oka Ruto.

.

.

Ryuto Ippongo was absent today. Pippi was the only member of the gaming club that is sitting in the computer lab. The other two, Mai Waifu from class 3-2, the same class as her, and Midori Gurin, from class 2-2, are usually somewhere else in the building. Ryuto was the only person who stays with her in the lab. During the time they have to be alone with each other, their hearts were slowly connecting they shared many feelings. This, however, is something none of them know.

Pippi sighed and stands up from her chair and heads to the cafeteria to buy some food. The line was much longer than usual, causing her to groan quietly to herself. Sometimes the boys will sneak their friends to cut them, making the queue longer and longer. If Pippi weren't so shy, she would've stood up to them.

At one of the tables, the girls were sitting there, talking and laughing like usual. Pippi felt jealousy swarming inside her. Ryuto and her could be just like them right now, if he weren't absent.

Mei and Koharu arrived from the bottom floor. Mei was holding a plate full of sausages, shaped like octopuses, placed neatly. She holds the plate out for her friends with a smile and said, "Here you go, enjoy."

Yuna clapped her hands together and puts on a wide smile, "Wow, Mio-senpai and Hinata-senpai are so cool! Thank you for the food!" She grabs one and takes a huge bite. Yui took one without saying anything. Koharu giggled and also fetched herself three at once.

Mei chuckled sweetly, then she sees Ayano sitting at a corner, not eating anything at all. She takes the plate, ignoring Koharu's whining, and approaches her.

Ayano looked up when she felt presence near her.

"Um...A-Ayano-san, is it?" Mei suddenly felt nervous when she sees Ayano's face fully, but she doesn't know why. Ayano just had a face that screams "leave me alone" on it.

Ayano nodded.

"Well...I'm Mei Mio, f-from class 2-2, and...um...Koharu-chan and I made these, I just thought I can share them with you..." Mei lowered her head and extended her arm so Ayano can reach the plate. Seeing that she hesitated, Mei made a disappointed look and a sad smile. She sighed and said, "You know...Haruka-senpai was the one who used to make these. M-Maybe you dislike them because they're not as good as hers..."

 _'How disgusting. You all abandoned her when she is alive, now you decided to act like you care about her and try to look like a good girl. Enough already, take off your stupid masks and show everyone how much of a trash-eater you are,'_ Ayano thought to herself, her expression still indifferent, though. Her eyes never looked away from the blue-haired girl's face. "Why do you want to share them with me?" she asked.

Mei felt even more guilty and replied, "W-Well...e-even though we've n-never talked before, M-Miyu-senpai seemed to like you a lot, a-and she talks about you all the time, s-so...y-you must be a v-very good friend of hers...th-therefore..."

Though Ayano had much more important things to do, she decides to take one so her stomach won't stop growling. She picked two and muttered, "Thank you..."

Mei smiled sweetly and went back to her friends.

Ayano stood up and starts to search for a girl to take a panty shot, but all of them are either eating or waiting in line to buy their food. Maybe she can go back to the rooftop and find another girl to work with. Just as she turned around, she hears an argument coming from a group of guys and a girl. She turned back around to take a look.

Two familiar, tall guys with menacing looks are harassing Pippi Osu. One of them with a tall pompadour grabbed her by the arm and said, "You have a nice face, sweety. But not a very nice personality, huh?"

"P-Please stand in line properly..." Pippi said timidly.

The other one with a spiky pompadour laughed and pushed her out of the line. "Move out of the way, or else we'll have you for lunch." Both of the boys laughed and placed their hands on their hips. Ayano now remembers that these two were part of the group of delinquents she fought that bullied Oka.

If Ayano can feel any other emotions than rage and love, she would've laughed her lungs out at this. Humans are just like bed bugs. Once you are completely exposed but unaware of, they will start biting you. Funny seeing a filthy bug insulting its own species. She approaches them and stands in front of Pippi, giving them an icy glare. "This is in school, not your home, get your act together."

The one with tall pompadour looked surprise and glanced at the one with a triangular pompadour, who smirked and said, "Well, look what we have here. An old friend! I still hold a grudge from last time, you know? Although..." He walks to her and reaches out a large hand to touch her face and purred, "Your beautiful face makes it hard for me to hate..."

Ayano smacked his hand away without hesitation.

Tall Pompadour pulled out his bokken and walks towards her with a threatening look, but was pushed back by Triangle Pompadour. He clicked his tongue in annoyance and withdrew his weapon, then shot Ayano a death glare. Triangle Pompadour chuckled and walked to the right of her and suddenly wrapped a muscular arm around her shoulders. She widened her eyes, as she felt the difficulty of escaping his tight grip.

Pippi's breath got caught in her throat. The others in the lunch line saw the situation and quickly scattered away. Everyone is staring at them.

Triangle Pompadour used his other hand and touched the charcoal-haired girl's left cheek, his head leaning closer to hers. Ayano can smell the disgusting odor of cigarettes radiating from him. She pulled her head away from his, trying to get as far as possible.

No one dared to make a move, afraid they'll have to face either of the delinquents.

Osana and Taro also came downstairs from their tutorial to buy some drinks. They immediately stood still and widened their eyes when they see what was going on in the cafeteria. Triangle Pompadour begins to grab Ayano's head and tried to forcefully kiss her, but was weakily stopped by Ayano's hands, which were trying to escape his arm. From any other students' angles, it looked like he touched her mouth.

Taro clenched his fist with anger and was about to run up to him and punch him, but Osana was ahead of him and ran to them first. He widened his eyes, worried for his friend.

The orange-haired girl pointed at the perverted delinquent with one hand, the other one placed on her hips, and yelled, "Hey, you! Let go of her, you disgusting animal!"

His smirk stretched further and looked at her with hungry eyes. "Once I'm done with her, you're next, brat," he said. Then his hand slowly gets under Ayano's shirt, reaching farther and farther up.

Seeing he didn't stop, Osana raised her volume nervously and said, "I-I'm warning you, let her go! Or else I'll call the teacher!"

"Oh, really?" he mocked as he withdrew his hand from Ayano's shirt pulled out his shinai and pointed it at Osana, "I'm so scared, you know? Ha! I'd like to see you try." The delinquent with the tall pompadour approached her and cracked his knuckles.

This provided a distraction for Ayano's harasser. She quickly lifted her leg backwards and kicked his crotch with her heel as hard as she could, enjoying the sickening, cracking sound. Many bystanders gasped and covered their mouth with their hand.

Triangle Pompadour screamed and fell to the floor, both hands clutching onto his crotch. Tall Pompadour snapped his head around, looking shocked to see how a small, delicate girl can hurt someone from his group.

Taro ran besides Ayano and pulled her to the side and told a boy with a dirty blonde bowl haircut to tell a teacher about this. Then he unbuttoned his jacket, took it off, and placed it on Ayano's shoulders. Her face became a deep shade of red, and her heart pounded loudly against her chest.

Tall Pompadour supported his friend's body and helped him get up from the ground. They both grabbed their weapons and approached Taro and Ayano with menacing glares, like a lion looking at its prey.

Just this moment, a teacher ran out from class 2-2 with the boy who Taro asked help from. They ran to the center of the crowd, where the two delinquents stand.

"Alright, now, someone explain to me what's happening here," the teacher stated sternly and crossed her arms. Her voice startled the delinquents, who spun around to face her. She turned her head from side to side and sees students watching them with nervous looks on their faces. "What are you kids looking at? Go back eating your lunch!" She waved them off, then they all turned back to talk to their friends.

Ayano pulled Taro's coat closer to her, enjoying the warmth and smell of him. She realized how well-structured he is when she stares at his back. He is skinnier than others and not as muscular, but Ayano can guess he isn't bad at physical activities. He also has very long legs and beautiful hands. His fingers are long and thin, perfect for playing the piano. Ayano wanted to hold them, but she is afraid he'll pull away.

Osana quickly ran to her childhood friend and Ayano to check up on them. With a worried look, she asked, "A-Are you alright, Aishi?"

She nodded, but she felt disgusted by her actions in her mind. She was just trying to act kind in front of Taro so he'll fall for her kindness. Just like last time in the rain, everything she did was because of him. If Taro didn't know her, Osana wouldn't even spare a glance at her. Disgusting, absolutely disgusting.

"Okay, good, that's a relief... Those delinquents are horrible, I can't believe they almost... T-To you, they almost..." Osana complained angrily, but her furious look faded when her eyes landed on the coat around Ayano's shoulder and that her best friend has his white uniform exposed. "They...almost..." she tried to say, but couldn't help feeling a lonely emotion inside her.

"Osana?" Taro waved his hand in front of her eyes to see if she's alright.

The teacher brought both of the delinquents downstairs with her, heading to the counselor's office. On the way, she was yelling out a bunch of lectures, telling them how awful their actions are, and stuff similar to it.

Pippi didn't feel like standing in line to buy food anymore, so she started to head for the stairs. Seeing an opportunity to take a panty shot, Ayano quickly takes off Taro's coat and throws it to him, who caught it clumsily, and followed her upstairs. Once she was close enough, she pulled out her phone and swiftly reached under Pippi's skirt and took a quick shot of her underwear. Pippi heard some noise behind her and turned around, the same time when Ayano had put her phone away.

Ayano reached out her hand that has Mei's octopus sausage in it in front of her. "Here, you can have it. I don't feel hungry," she said, trying her best to sound as convincing as possible.

Pippi widened her emerald green eyes at her and asked, "A-Are you sure? I mean...I don't know you at all, w-why would you help me?"

"It's human nature to be helping one another," replied Ayano with a fake smile.

The black-and-pink-haired girl beamed gratefully and took it. "Thank you...thank you!"

"No problem." Ayano bowed and begins to walk back downstairs.

Just as she was about to say goodbye, Pippi suddenly thought about Kokona's father and the loan sharks. She ran forward a few steps and called out, "Um...i-if you don't mind...I do have something that's been going on in my mind for a while, w-would you help me?"

 _'How annoying and troublesome...'_ Ayano thought, frowning. She has better things to do, but she didn't want to make any new enemies with unimportant people like Pippi, so she turned around to face her.

Pippi gulped and gripped the edge of her skirt with both hands. "Well...you see... I met Haruka-san's father two days ago. And...how should I say this...I think that her engaging in a compensated dating has something to do with her father! Because...well...apparently he borrowed money from some loan sharks, and he doesn't have enough money to pay off his debt, so...I think Haruka-san was trying to help."

Ayano wanted to laugh. She didn't care what Kokona's reason for being a whore was, she just knows she deserved death. And her father can just go die with her, too. One less filthy human standing can give her one less thing to hate. "What do you want me to do?" Ayano asked.

"I...I was hoping...maybe if you can do something to help him get rid of his debts?"

"Loan sharks..." Ayano thought about this task and stayed silent for a while.

Seeing that there's no response coming from her, Pippi realized how much weight she just put on Ayano's shoulder, and it's someone who helped defend her from the delinquents and gave her food. She quickly said, "Never mind about what I said...! I-It's okay if you refuse to! I'm s-sorry, I'm being annoying, aren't I? D-Don't take what I said seriously, I'm-"

"No. I'll get Haruka-senpai's father out of debt."

"What? No! Please don't get involved. I doubt there's anything you could do about it..." Pippi said the last sentence much more quieter.

Ayano flashed her a mysterious smile and said, "You'd be surprised."

Pippi blushed a little from Ayano's smile, then her mouth stretched into a wide grin. She bowed deeply and said, "Thank you, thank you!"

.

.

The bell for the end of the school rang. After announcing homework, students all stood up and grabbed their backpacks to go home.

Hayato pulls off his white school's shoe from his left foot with his left hand and slips in his sneaker. "Let's go play soccer at Ryusei's place today," he said to a red-haired boy named Haruto Yuto.

"Sure. I'll call my mom," Haruto replied and gave Hayato a thumbs-up.

Every student that does not have a tutorial or any club activities left the building to go home except Ayano. She headed upstairs to the martial arts clubroom just like what Budo Masuta said. She stepped inside, but no one was in there. She roamed around the room to observe the furnitures displayed. The sunlight is much weaker than before, probably because of the rain.

The curtains of the changing booth was slid open. Budo stepped out with his martial arts uniform on. Ayano can see how tall and muscular this senior is. "Oh, you're here," Budo says in a slightly surprised tone when he sees her standing there.

"Why do you sound surprised when you're the one that asked for a meeting?" Ayano deadpanned.

Budo chuckled, "Ha ha, yeah, I guess."

"Why did you want me here?" Ayano decides to go straight to the point.

The club leader stayed silent for a moment. He crossed his arms and examined the girl in front of him. Average height, average body shape, average face...everything is average. Unlike most girls, she doesn't wear any makeup at all or appear shy. But her eyes bother him a lot. They're just like how he remembered; no light, no reflection, soulless, no emotions. She always wears the same indifferent expression at anytime, and she always seemed to be talking in statements only.

"Masuta-senpai?"

Budo snapped back to his conscience and felt embarrassed for staring at someone for too long. He coughed into his fist to clear his throat. "I...well...I wanted to discuss some personal stuff with you, hope you don't mind."

"Whose?"

"Yours."

"Mine?"

"Yes. You see, um..." he tries to find the right word to use, "I've realized how...blank you look. You never smile, and even if you do, they don't seem real. It's as if you're never happy. Is there...anything going on in your home?"

Ayano raised her eyebrow and asked, "In my home?"

"Yes, in your home."

She lives by herself, takes care of herself, and never had any burglars crashing into her house. Her parents aren't exactly horrible people, either, although she's not particularly close with them. Her father loves her, her mother cherishes her, everything is normal. What is this Budo guy talking about? "Nothing," she replied.

Budo was taken aback by her reply, although it's not a surprise if she wants to hide anything. "Keeping a smile is a way to keep your spirits high! Defeat is a state of mind. No one is ever defeated until defeat has been accepted as a can tell me, I won't judge you."

Who does this trash-eater think he is, that she would care about his opinions on her? He tries so hard to sound superior, thinking that she would kneel down in front of him. "There is nothing going on in my home, Masuta-senpai," Ayano replied firmly.

"Are...are you sure?" he asked in a worried tone.

"Yes, I am sure. I am naturally like this, I'm sorry if that bothered you."

Emotionless, serious, and righteous. This girl really acquires all of the requirements as a martial arts club member. Budo's been looking for a student like this for many years since he enrolled in Akademi, but has not seen one. He really wanted someone like Ayano to join his club.

He took a deep breath and said, "No, no...in fact, I really like you. Ever since I met you, I thought there was something in your eyes that made you seem like a martial artist. That time when I saw you protecting Yamada from Najimi, I really admired you, and wanted to know more about you."

Ayano's ears went red from the mention of Taro, but kept her composure.

"I know you rejected me last time, but...I would like to ask you again. Would you...join the martial arts club? We study hand-to-hand combat and practice self defense techniques! If you join our club, I guarantee that you'll be able to defend yourself from anyone that might try to hurt you! I can make you stronger, I can train you!" Budo places his fist on his chest as a promising gesture.

Ayano wanted rip off his useless ears and cut off his tongue so he won't talk anymore. Does he not understand what "no" means? The first time they met, she declined. The second time they met, she made it clear that she does not want to join any club. Taro Yamada is her number one priority, she does not want to waste any time doing club activities.

"No, I have no intentions of joining a club at this moment," she replies, and begins to leave.

Budo immediately grabbed her arm to stop her from leaving. Ayano turned her head to look at him in annoyance and clicked her tongue. Budo suddenly felt nervous for some reason. He gulped and said, "It's...it's alright if you refuse to. You're welcome to spar with any of our members at any time, even if you're not in the club!"

Ayano pulled her arm away from his grip and ran away without giving a reply.

The martial arts master watched her back as she ran farther and farther away. He sighed with a smile and crossed his arm. "Ah...I got hated, didn't I?" he says to himself.

The next things he sees are his fellow club members entering the room. They came from the opposite side of where Ayano ran, which means they must be eavesdropping. Sho Kunin looked at the direction where Ayano ran and asked, "Yo, Masuta-senpai, who was that girl?"

"I think she's from my class, I'm not sure, though," Mina Rai replied his question instead.

Juku Ren raised his head to look at his teacher and senior, who is taller than him by almost a head, and asked, "What were you two talking about? What's her name?"

Budo turned around and walked forward a few steps. "I simply thought she could be a great member for this club, so I asked to meet her here and discuss it with her. Her name is..." he trailed off.

His students waited for him to continue.

Sweat rolled down his head as he tried to remember her name. "Her name is...is..." he stuttered. Then he realized he never asked for it. How embarrassing, he's talked to her multiple times, yet he still doesn't know what to call her. "I...didn't ask..." he said nervously.

"Ehhh?" Sho whined disappointingly, "You were basically trying to hit on her so desperately, yet you didn't even ask for her name? Senpai, I'm disappointed in you..."

Mina smacked the side of Sho's head lightly and commented, "Not everyone's like you, Sho."

"What do you mean by that?!"

"Exactly what I said."

"Fight me!"

"Will do."

Then these two began sparring before changing into their uniform. Budo sighed helplessly and shook his head.

Shima Shita stayed silent the entire time, a difficult expression shown on her face.

.

.

The sun finally hides behind the mountains and lets the moon take over with darkness. Ayano lies on her bed and looks at her phone, flipping back and forth through her two panty shots.

If it weren't for Budo Masuta, she would've had a chance to take the last panty shot needed to buy cigarettes. He is always in her way, that time with Saki Miyu and Kokona Haruka was already more than enough, now he extended her time needed to take a panty shot to buy cigarettes, which extended the time needed to frame Osana Najimi, which also gave her more time to spend with Taro Yamada.

 _'In my way...'_

All of this was Budo Masuta's fault. Ayano will need to wipe his existence away.

As much as she wants to, right now, she will have to find the third girl to work with. But there might not be another chance as easy as today, and if she only puts her time into doing tasks for Info-chan, she might lose her progress with Taro. Unacceptable.

But who can she find next to take a picture from? Maybe Osana Najimi, she is easy-minded and not so smart outside of academics. Then she can put the photo on the school's bulletin board and shame her in front of every student and teacher in this school. This can result as Taro being disgusted by her and walk away. Then again, she always clings onto him, so it'll be very difficult to separate them.

The next person Ayano thought of was the school's nurse. She is known for her lewd appearance and cute face. Her outfit is also easy to take advantage of. She should be easy to take care off. But Akademi's teachers are all trained for self-defense ever since the incident from 1989, so Ayano could end up much worse than being scolded.

All of the other girls are always accompanied by another girl, there is literally no chance to even get near them without being noticed.

Ayano sighed deeply and rubbed the back of her head out of frustration. Her dark irises slowly moved down and landed on her sky blue pants. Shameless thoughts swam into her mind and imagination blinded her eyes. She can either dirty other girls or dirty herself, either way, someone will be dirtied. But this is for Taro, she can sacrifice anything to earn his heart. She is a pervert, a monster, someone who will erase anyone who stands in her way.

Her irises trembled as her hand creeps down and pulled off her pants, revealing her own black underwear that has no patterns on it anywhere. Her bare thighs felt cold after being revealed. Then she grabbed her phone, turned it on, and pulled up the camera. She hesitantly puts her phone between her legs and has her thumb hover over the button.

Once she does this, there's no turning back. No one else but her provider will know about this. Her disgusting body will be covered by her skin, her own mask. Her sinful acts will be kept as a secret, so they will not prevent her feelings to reach her dear senpai. There is a side of her that wishes she never met him, so everything will be normal. But now that she fell into a hole named "love", she can only fall deeper. The more she falls, the more painful it'll be if she lands.

Of course, Ayano Aishi can never land. She will make him hers, no matter the consequences.

"Senpai...please forgive me..." she said to no one in particular. Without another word, she pressed the camera button.

* * *

 **A/N: This is another bad chapter...I don't like it. I didn't know what other vocabulary words to use, curse my language barrier. Forgive me, please... On another hand, I already know what the next chapter is like. It is very messed up, or at least I hope so. A small spoiler, it involves torturing a girl gruesomely, then killing her, then killing her father, then killing another girl's father. Can you guess who I'm talking about?**


	7. Chapter 7

**Today's my 14th birthday and I'm spending it by writing a story about a psycho girl killing people. ~Phoenix**

* * *

 _She pulled out her scissors and kneeled down next to the unconscious girl. "They say that those who never sleep won't be able to tell the difference between dreams and reality," she said with a smile. Then she straightened the girl's arm and started to cut her wrist and below her palm, exactly where the veins could be felt. Droplets of blood squirted onto the psychopath's face. "Want to find out what they say about those who never wake up?"_

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Yet another Monday arrived sooner than expected. The first thing Ayano saw after she changed into her school shoes and entered the plaza, she saw a crowd of boys and girls surrounding something in front of the fountain. She approached them to take a look. A blonde-haired, tan-skinned girl with a very short uniform skirt and flashy makeup and a familiar-looking girl with the same messy, dark hair and long gloves and leggings with spider web patterns were facing each other. The second girl also wore a red armband with the kanjis, "club leader", written on it. It seemed like they were having an argument, or like the flashy girl was bullying the gothic girl.

It came to Ayano's mind that the sleep-deprived girl was Oka Ruto. When did she return? Either way, it served her right for even thinking of lustful thoughts of Taro Yamada. Ayano smirked at the terrified girl's expression. It amused her so much to see a vile human fighting another vile human.

The flashy girl pushed Oka back, causing her to stumble back a few steps. She held a book in her arms close to her chest, protecting it from any offense from her attacker. If observed closely, there is a pentagram design on the violet cover. Probably for the occult club. Just as Ayano wanted to turn around to head to her class, she felt her body stop on its own and a soothing aura - that ironically made her feel nervous - coming from behind her. She quickly lowered her head and held her hands together in front of her stomach.

"Good morning, Aishi-san! How was your weekend?" that precious voice asked. Ayano felt his breath by her ear, despite standing a few inches apart from him to the side. Taro flashed her a sweet smile as a greeting.

Ayano did not dare to look up. Her ears, face, and the back of her neck felt very warm. "U-Um...g-g-good...m-morning...S...Senpai..." she managed under her breath, a little difficult for Taro to hear.

Taro frowned for about half a second, seeing that the underclassman didn't even bother to look at him. Then he raised his head to see what he assumed she was looking at, and witnessed the battle between the snotty brat and Oka Ruto. He scowled and ran to the crowd of bystanders. Ayano immediately looked up and widened her eyes in shock to see him trying to rescue the occult club president. She narrowed her eyebrows and chased after him.

Riku Soma, the boy with short, purple hair, the one who brought a teacher to the murder scene of Kokona and Saki, saw his classmate coming towards them and says, "Oh, Taro." On cue, everyone else turned their heads toward the entrance to the plaza and saw Taro walking to them with a rare angry expression.

"What's going on here, care to explain for me?" he asked as calm as he could.

The bystanders shared troubled glances with each other, until Yui Rio huffed and replied, "Ruto-senpai bumped into Ronshaku-senpai, then Ronshaku-senpai began complaining about how Ruto-senpai dirtied her clothes and started criticizing how poor she is and does not deserve to even touch her."

Ronshaku? Ronshaku Loans? The loan sharks that threatened Kokona Haruka's father? No wonder this brat gave out ugly impressions so easily, Ayano thought to herself as she arrived to the chaos.

"HAHHH? I did NOT criticize her, I'm simply speaking the truth! I'm merely stating what I know is right in my mind!"

"R-Ronshaku-senpai..." Mei began, trying to calm her down.

"It's 'Musume-sama!' Get it right!" Musume shouted back, her face a little twisted from anger.

Osana Najimi also arrived to the plaza a few minutes later, while the chittering got louder with Musume Ronshaku's screaming. She stood next to Ayano with a confused expression. She put one hand on her hip and turned her head to Ayano and asked, "Ayano, what's going on here?"

Since when did she have the permission to call her by her first name? How disrespectful, seemed like she needed some punishment. But right now, Ayano had to keep calm and refrain from committing any crimes. Getting rid of Oka Ruto was her first priority at the moment. She flashed a fake worried look and looked at Osana, "Oh, good morning, Najimi-senpai. It seems like Ronshaku-senpai is having an argument with Ruto-senpai."

"Argument?" Osana repeated, "Do you know the basic details of it?"

Ayano shrugged, not bothering to tell her. Osana took it as she doesn't know.

Taro's scowl deepened and his hands clenched lightly into a fist. "Ronshaku-san, are you saying...that you think lowly of someone who's never done anything to you other than accidentally bumping into you?" he asked with a low voice, "If so, then I must say...Ronshaku-san, your behavior is terribly prideful and unfair."

Oka Ruto turned when she heard Taro standing up for her.

Musume widened her eyes and mouth in shock at him for his accusations. "What? Are you serious, Taro-kun? How could you ever say that to me? As if I'm doing something wrong?" She pointed at Oka's head with her finger that had a painted nail, "You tell me right now this skank does not look pitiful and ugly! My dad can buy her anytime he feels like it!"

Osana widened her eyes furiously with a shocked expression, "How could she ever say something like that?!"

Ayano wanted to laugh at the fact of this flashy girl calling another person a skank.

"I'm going to have a talk with her," Osana said. Seeing that Osana was about to step up, Ayano quickly grabbed her shoulder lightly. Osana turned her head back to her and said, "Let me go, Ayano! I can't stand seeing this kind of person in our school!"

The charcoal-haired girl simply shook her head, meaning it's not worth it. "Let me do it, I can't risk having you hurt, Najimi-senpai," she lied briefly and pulled the orange-haired girl back, who looked at her with concern in her amber eyes.

"A-Ayano..." Osana feeled touched inside her heart. "No, you're too kind. I can't let you go through pain!"

Before Ayano could retort, Osana flashed her an assuring smile and walked up to the crowd, which splited apart to give her room to walk through to face Musume, Taro, and Oka.

"I...I-I apologize...for...bumping into you..." Oka stuttered with a frightened tone. She lowered her head deeply and hugged her book tightly. "R-Really...I am...please...don't...hurt...Y-Yamada-san..." her voice became quieter each word she muttered.

Musume pushed her by the chest again, this time with more strength. "Since when did you gain rights to give orders to me?!"

Taro ran to Oka and caught her before her bottom could meet the hard ground. Oka stiffened in his arms. Her cheeks felt warm. She could sense a pleasing smell coming from him that was neither from shampoo nor perfume. Did all boys smell this good? She had been afraid of males for her whole life, except for her occult club members, and now Taro Yamada.

Ayano's irises shrunk and shadow covered the upper half of her face. She balled her hands into tight fists, her nails digging into her palms.

"Ronshaku-san, that's enough!" Taro raised his volume.

"You shut up and stay out of this!"

"R-Ronshaku-san...p-please..."

"Silent, you ugly, satanic witch!"

"Who's the ugly witch here?" Osana's loud voice interrupted the screaming and caused all three of them to turn their heads and look at her. Taro widened his eyes when he saw his childhood friend standing up against his classmate.

Predicting that the situation might escalate soon, the crowd quickly scattered. Everyone went back to what they were doing, but much more quiet. Some curious students would sometimes glance back at them to take a peek at what was going on.

"W-What do you want?" Musume asked in an annoyed tone.

"Musume Ronshaku, I always knew you're a troublemaker, now I see you're far beyond that." Osana replied.

Musume was clearly offended deeply by her comment. "W-What's with that attitude?! Do you even know who I am?!"

"Now I do. A spoiled brat that needs to learn her place."

"W-What?! How dare you speak like that to me?! First you used my first name, now you're spitting out false insults!"

"Ask anyone here to see if any of those are false!"

Taro felt like things were not going well at all. "H-Hey, Osana, that's about enough as it is," he warned worryingly. Someone like Musume Ronshaku was not afraid of the sky nor the earth, so who knew what would happen to Osana if she didn't stop? Osana ignored him.

"You are being disrespectful, commoner! I am the daughter of a rich family that can buy this entire school if I want to!"

"You have to earn respect, Ronshaku-senpai. And you said your family is rich, but that is merely the work of your parents, not you. What do you have to be so proud of?"

Ayano smirked at the hilarious ticked-off face on Musume. Maybe having a stinking mouth like Osana could sometimes work on peasants like Musume.

Musume's tan face starts to show a little bit of red, meaning she was completely furious. Her whole body shook in anger. She stomped to the orange-haired girl and raised her hand up high, then she swung it down. Osana's irises shrunk when she realized what was about to happen, then she squeezed her eyes shut. Just before her cheek met Musume's hand, Ayano quickly pushed her away and took a hit for her. A rough and loud slap landed on the side of her face, knocking her to the side and fell onto the ground.

Everyone was silent. The students from the crowd all snapped their heads back when they heard the noise. Oka gasped sharply and covered her mouth with both hands.

Ayano widened her eyes in shock. She did not expect this flashy wench to have this much strength for a filthy human, though if she were to fight seriously, this was as easy as breaking someone's heart. Literally. With bare hands. Who knew how many people she had practiced with, using the same hand? Probably the slaves from her home. She felt her cheek throbbing from the hit and a salty, metallic taste in her mouth. A small string of blood trickled down her chin from her mouth.

"Aishi-san!" Taro's gray eyes were as huge as saucers. Then he turned to Musume and looked at her with a menacing glare. To him, those who use violence against others were utter scum.

"AYANO!" Osana screamed and dashed to her, who was trying to sit up from the ground. Her long, orange hair flowed in the air as she moved. She knelt down by Ayano and helped to support her weight with one hand behind her back, the other one on her shoulder. "Ayano, are you okay?! I'm sorry, Ayano, this is all my fault!"

Ayano felt disgusted when she felt her hands touch her. But she ignored it and pretended to be in pain, though she wasn't. Originally, she only wanted to gain Osana's full trust so it would be easier to eliminate her, but who knew Musume would hit her for real? She places one hand on her cheek that was injured, flinching a little when she felt painful and itchy at the same time. Then it occurred to her—what if she became ugly? What if her face was ruined? Taro would definitely neglect her if that were to happen.

Musume gulped when she realized what she's done. Seeing a bunch of stares landing on her, she turned her head from side-to-side and looked at the people staring at her. "W-What are you all looking at? I-It was her fault for barging in...!"

The sound of high heels clicking against the hard floor approached them. Kaho Kanon, teacher of class 3-2, arrived, with a boy that has long, straight, turquoise hair that had a few strands going down the middle of his forehead. Students all turned their heads toward the two. Kaho Kanon stood still and crossed her arms while scanning her eyes across the plaza. "Would anyone like to explain what's the big deal here?" she asked in a low tone.

Oka's petite body trembled in fear when she saw her teacher crashing in this catastrophe. Taro squeezed her shoulder to ensure her everything would be fine. This image puts a rather bitter and sorrowful expression on Ayano's face. She bit her bottom lip and looked away. The pain in her chest overcame the pain on her cheek.

"Well? Is no one going to fess up?" Kaho raised her voice a little.

Osana stood up immediately and answered, "Teacher, Ronshaku-san was bullying Ruto-san, so I thought I should stop her, then she tried to hit me, but Aishi-san blocked it for me."

Musume huffed irritatingly and murmured, "Snitch..."

The brunette teacher turned to Ayano, seeing her covering her cheek with one hand. She raised an eyebrow and looked at Musume and asked, "Ronshaku-san, is that true?"

"T-Teacher, she was the one th-that started it!" Musume protested and pointed at Osana.

Kaho sighed deeply and made a helpless face. "Ronshaku-san, I would like to see you in the faculty room after school today."

"But-"

"Thank you for understanding." With that, Kaho turned her heels and left the plaza, heading back upstairs to her classroom. Musume stomped her foot on the floor with a pout and also left. Everyone else sighed in relief and returned to their activities.

Oka unwillingly left Taro's embrace and bowed deeply to him with a bright red face. "I-I'm so sorry for troubling you, Y-Yamada-kun, thank you so, so much for s-standing up for me..." Her voice trailed off and was replaced by a tiny gasp when she felt his hand on her head, patting her and ruffling her already-messy hair.

"What are you talking about, Ruto-san? I did that willingly. Don't worry, if you call me, I will be there for you if you are ever harassed like this again," he smiled warmly and stated.

The color on Oka's face deepened even more, and she couldn't find any words to say, so she merely nodded shy.

Ayano's heart twitched. How cruel of him, showing such affectionate acts towards another girl in front of her. She was pretending to be cute, just so she could win you over as her guardian, how could he not see that already? Those arms of his, how many girls had he hugged with them behind her back? That voice of his, how many girls fell for it without her permission? Why must he torture her like this? First he swept her from her feet, causing her to lose her control around him, now he dropped her back onto the cold, hard ground and went to other people.

She didn't know how long she could stay in control anymore.

"Ah, Ayano..." Osana called out when she saw Ayano running away with her head lowered. Didn't she need to go to the infirmary?

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.

Instead of going to the computer lab with Pippi during lunch like always, Ryuto Ippongo went upstairs after receiving a note from an anonymous person that invited him to meet them on the rooftop. Pippi offered to go with him, just in case if it's anyone dangerous, which was exactly what he worried about. He declined, so she would be safe if anything bad happens.

He looked at the note again. The time for the meeting was exactly one o'clock afternoon, the moment when the lunch bell rang, so he arrived as fast as he could. Unexpectedly, he saw no other people at the meeting spot. He started to look around, then he began walking to another side of the rooftop.

"Over here," a feminine voice said.

He turned around and saw a red-haired girl with glasses leaning against the railing. She had a mysterious smirk on her face that made him feel uncomfortable.

"Who are you? I don't think I've seen you before..." Ryuto asked.

"I'm the person nicknamed 'Info-chan' in this school," Info-chan replied casually. Then she got off the railing and started walking around Ryuto in a circle, her ruby eyes never leaving him.

Ryuto felt goosebumps on the back of his head and both of his arms. "...W-Why did you want a meeting?" he stammered.

Info-chan chuckled and pulled out a small, square-cut piece of paper folded into a smaller square out of her uniform's pocket on her chest. She opened up the paper and turned it around, which seemed to be a photo of something. She approached Ryuto and put it in his hand. He gulped and looked at the photo up close. It was a picture of a girl's white underwear. His face flushed red out of embarrassment and he yelped, throwing the photo in the air, which was then caught by Info-chan.

"W-Why are you showing me this stuff?!" Ryuto yelled nervously.

"Don't freak out, it's merely just a panty shot," Info-chan's grin widened and said.

"'Merely?!' Get away from me, you creep! I don't want this stuff!"

"Oh?" she lifted her hand that hold the photo up, showing the image towards Ryuto. He shrieked and covered his eyes with his elbow. "Even if...it's your crush's?"

Ryuto widened his eyes and lowered his arms. "P-Pippi-san?"

"Oh my, calling her by her first name? You two are quite close, I have to say."

The red-and-black-haired boy felt like something was not right. A sinful feeling crept into his mind. "I-Is that...Pippi-san's...um...?" he stuttered, pointing at the panty shot.

"Indeed, it is. Do you feel aroused? Does it give you a perverted desire?" Info-chan asked as her cheeks tinted pink.

Ignoring the question, Ryuto angrily asked back, "H-How did you get that?!" The thought that another guy used his phone taking such a lewd photo of someone he loved so much made his fists clench tighter. He wanted to find that guy and beat the hell out of him for sexually harassing "his" Pippi.

The redhead shrugged and said, "I have my resources."

Ryuto breathed harder as he tried to calm himself down. He took a deep breath and asked, "Is this...the only reason that you called me here? To show me that?"

"Of course not," Info-chan said, "I wanted to do a business with you."

"B-Business?"

"Yes." She held up all five fingers on her free hand and offered, "Five hundred yen. How does that sound? To buy a perverted picture of your crush to keep it all to yourself."

Ryuto's face reddened heavily. "N-NO! I will not do that to my friend!"

"Liar." Suddenly, Info-chan's expression turned dark and spine-chilling. Her smile faded into a frown. "All you men. All liars. You pretend to act so pure and full of dignity, but deep down, you're all nothing but dirty and sick perverts. All you think about is sex, sex, sex. Nothing else."

Sweat rolled down Ryuto's head. His hands felt cold from her words. His eyes traveled to the panty shot in Info-chan's hand, then an imaginary scene popped appeared. He saw Pippi Osu lying on the bed, her pink and black hair messy and soft, her body covered in sweat, her face flushed red, her breathing intensifies. He imagines her school uniform drenched in sweat and flipped up, revealing her smooth, creamy skin of her waist. "Ryuto-kun...do you like what you see?" she said under her breath, then she started to pull off her skirt, revealing her silky, white panty.

"What were you thinking, you disgusting pervert?" Info-chan asked, a cynical smirk on her face.

Ryuto yelped and stepped back a few steps, nearly tripping. His face could almost glow like a red lantern if they were in the dark.

"Well? Deal or no deal?" the redhead offered again. After he shook his head, she pretended to sigh and said, "If you don't buy this one and only photo of her, I might just sell it to another boy...after all, she is quite popular in the school with her looks."

His heart stopped beating and his eyes widened. A panicking expression appeared on his face.

Info-chan was pleased with his reaction, so she continued, "Once this photo reaches the hand of some other guy, he will think naughty thoughts of her, he will want to approach her, and he will want to touch her, to feel her, to-" She was harshly pushed against the wall besides the door of the entrance to the rooftop. The boy in front of her gripped onto her shoulders tightly, enough to break her bones. But she only felt amusement from his actions.

"Don't you dare... DON'T YOU DARE SHAME PIPPI-SAN IN FRONT OF ANYONE!" he screamed at the top of his lungs, veins popping on his forehead.

A smirk. "Jealouse? Don't want her to show the most private part to any other male student?"

"SHUT UP! WHO EVEN ARE YOU?! I WILL REPORT YOU TO THE GUIDANCE COUNSELOR!"

"You can try,but they won't be able to find me anyways. Though, I'm not sure what will happen to this photo..."

Ryuto couldn't find anything else to say. He took a few steps back stiffly, then he dropped onto his knees like a criminal in front of a king. He lowered his head deeply, then his eyes began to water.

Info-chan stepped forward, away from the wall. She rubbed her right shoulder with her left hand, then turned back to him and said, "I'll ask you one more time. Deal...or no deal?"

His hands began to tremble. Millions of thoughts rushed into his head at once, many of them containing the scene of Pippi finding out about this and refusing to be his friend forever. He would be rejected and left alone if he would agree, but thinking about Pippi being touched by another guy made him furious. He wouldn't allow anyone else to disrespect her like that, not even himself, at least before she would allow him. He lifted a shaky hand into his pocket, pulled out a five-hundred-yen coin and raised his hand without looking up.

Info-chan chuckled satisfying and took the money, then she placed the photo on his hand, which he withdrew and gripped tightly onto. "Pleasure doing business with you," she said in a teasing tone, "You pervert."

Ryuto heard footsteps coming from her, then it got quieter and quieter, until he was sure she left. He felt something wet rolling down his cheeks and dropping onto the photo in his hand before he realized he was crying. But he didn't have the right to cry. He was perverted, just like what that twisted girl said. He commited unforgivable sins. He didn't deserve to receive sugary smiles from Pippi. Of all above, which part of him had the right to cry?

His sobs grew louder and louder, and his voice starts to choke. "I'm sorry, Pippi-san... I'm sorry... I'm so sorry..." he kept muttering to himself, hoping Pippi could hear him.

She didn't.

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Oka stood in front of the room that she had not entered for a long time. The room that contained three years of memories. The room that contained the people she holds dearly to her heart. She took a deep breath and raised a hand to knock on the closed door with her knuckles.

"Oh, Senpai, someone's knocking..." she heard a masculine voice say. After that, she could hear shuffling and then footsteps coming close. Each time the footsteps got louder and closer, she felt her heart beating faster. She cleared her throat to calm down.

She imagined the reactions she would receive from her club members after they saw her. "Will they be shocked? Will they drop tears of happiness? Will they give her a group hug? Will they be angry at her for leaving them for such a long time? Or will they not have any reactions at all?" she asked. Before her eyes realized, she heard the door sliding open in front of her, revealing the boy who took over as her substitute while she was away.

"Can I do anything for y-..." he was about to ask when he lifted his eyes to see the leader of this club standing before him. She still had the same messy, dark indigo hair and light violet eyes that concealed so many emotions and messages in them. "Lea...der..." he managed to make out through the shock.

She tuged the ends of her lips and gives him a wholehearted smile. "Long time no see..." she said, "Shin..."

He ran to her and wrapped his arms around her shoulders, pulling her into a warm embrace. His hug was tight but comforting. He buried his head into his leader's shoulder and breathed heavily, calming himself before he lost control and cried in front of her. His messy bangs covered his eyes. Oka closed her eyes and hugged him back softly, patting his back like a mother would to her crying child.

"Welcome back...Leader..."

"Yes...I'm back, Shin..."

The rest of the club members came out to celebrate the return of Oka. They all placed their books on their chair carefully. Supana Churu was the most excited one. As soon as Shin let go of Oka, she launched herself to Oka's chest and hugged her tightly, tears rolling down her visible eye.

"Ruto-senpai...Ruto-senpai!" she repeated over and over again, wanting to make sure she really was back.

Oka chuckled bashfully as her cheeks reddened, then she placed a hand on Supana's head and patted her. "Dear Supana-chan, I'm here, don't cry anymore, I'm here now..." the more she said, the more her eyes felt hot and watery. Finally, tears fell out, though it was the type of crying where she didn't make any noises, unlike Supana.

Kokuma Jutsu put her hands together and held it up to her chest to show how happy she was, and Daku Atsu on her right adjusts his glasses and kept a calm expression. Chojo Tekina smiled while watching his fellow club members showing a rare positive emotion that could be seen physically.

For the first time, Shin wanted school to last just a little longer. There were so many things he wanted to tell his leader, so he wanted to take his time and tell her slowly.

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.

"Which window is the one you're talking about?" Ayano asked her provider through her phone. She arrived at the back of the school, where the running track was laid out many meters before the hill on that the mythical cherry blossom tree stood.

"Look at your upper left," she replied with the usual chilling tone of hers.

Ayano did as she told. She raised her head and turned to the left, then she saw a window swinging open and a small object being thrown out. The window was closed immediately after. She ran to the object that landed in the nicely-mowed grass, which made it very easy to see. It was the box of cigarettes she went through so much trouble to purchase. Ayano pickef it up and opened the box. A total of twenty cigarettes were in it. She cringed at the smell and quickly closed the box.

"Pleasure doing business with you," Info-chan said before hanging up.

Ayano turned off her phone and shoved it back into her pocket, then she used two hands to hold the box of cigarettes so she could cover it as she went back inside the school. She ran towards the door that Musume Ronshaku always stood next to - alone. It's only common sense that someone like her had no friends at all.

Just before she could go inside the building, Musume snatched the cigarettes swiftly from Ayano's hands before she could comprehend. Her light blue eyes sparkled with excitement as they stared at the brand's name that's written on the box. "OH. EMM. GEE! You are, like, the BEST! You just INSTANTLY became my BFF!" she exclaimed and flashed Ayano a huge, toothy smile.

The charcoal-haired girl widened her blank eyes when she felt the box was taken away by this wench. What kind of nerve did she have in that brainless skull of hers that gave her the rudeness of snatching something away directly from someone's hands? It seemed to Ayano that this girl was already tired of being alive now.

"W-Wait, Ronshaku-senpai, those aren't-" she tried to say, her voice quiet due to still being in shock.

"Like, I can just forgive you for what you did earlier! You know, since your dear Musume-sama is, like, such a kind and sympathetic, gorgeous, princess!" she continued to babble as she swung her bright, blonde hair to show off.

"Y-You? Forgive...me?" Ayano was even more blank-minded when she saw the nonsense that shoots out of her mouth.

"Ugh, did you not hear me the first time? Whatever, I'm, like, gonna go back to class now!" she sneered and walked off, purposefully waving her hips harder, causing her extremely short skirt to be thrown up, revealing her neon pink underwear.

Ayano was still trying to progress the events that just happened as flames of rage began to ignite inside her.

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.

"Bye, see you tomorrow!" the students said to each other after they left the school grounds.

Ayano examined the same syringe she used on Saki Miyu, playing around with it in her hand with a blank expression. She used her thumb and pushed the end of the syringe, causing droplets of liquid to burst out of the sharp tip. Not paying attention to biology class for awhile, she wasn't perfectly sure if her plan would move smoothly and successfully.

She sat on the ground in the empty hallway of the first floor, leaning against the shoe lockers that were right before the exit. For some odd reason, she felt worn out, even though nothing really happened today. Her body felt limp, as if she lost all of her strength and energy. Her eyelids felt heavy and her eyeballs felt dry and stinging when she opened her eyes. Even worse, her throat ached for some reason and it hurt to talk. She lost the energy to open her mouth.

It'd be great if her life just drained away here, peaceful, quiet, alone, and painless. That was what the Ayano from the past would think. But now, Taro Yamada stood in her way, blocking her from moving forward towards the path of death.

The more she thought, the more tired she became. Her face felt warm, but her body felt cold. No good, was she really going to give up here? Right now?

 _'Senpai...please...help me...'_

"Ayano?" she heard her name being said by the last person she wanted to see.

Ayano quickly hid the syringe in her skirt and turned her head meekly and looked at her, having no strength left to groan or snap at her, or even frown. "Najimi...senpai..." she muttered weakly.

Osana looked at her worryingly. "Ayano, what's going on with you?" She knelt down and put her hand on Ayano's forehead and underneath her bangs, then used her other hand to feel her own. She narrowed her eyebrows and exclaimed, "Your temperature...it's hot! Do you have a fever?! Why didn't you stay at home?!"

To get rid of anyone that's trying to steal Senpai, Ayano thought to herself. "Senpai...am I going to die?" she asked, her heart trembling with fear.

"D-Don't say such nonsense! Hang in there, I'll go find the nurse!" Just as Osana turned around, she nearly bumped into the infamous Musume Ronshaku. As much as she hated her, she had to throw away her pride and help her friend. At least she thought they're friends. "R-Ronshaku-san..." Osana said, her voice lowering.

Somehow, Ayano felt a throb of pain on her injured cheek again, thanks to her.

Musume huffed and crossed her arms. "Well, well, lookie here. A brat who needs to learn her place is hanging out with a weak, wimpy baby. What a way to ruin Musume-sama's day."

Didn't she just say Ayano was her "BFF" literally during lunchtime? This was why humans are so shallow. Backstabbing was the only thing they're good at.

Osana furrowed her eyebrows more, trying to contain her anger. She calmly said, "Ronshaku-san, as you can see here, my friend is very sick. It would be nice if you..." she paused, then she thought of an idea. "Ronshaku-san...is...is it possible...th-that you...um..." she trailed off, her stupid pride preventing her from lowering her head to someone like Musume. She inhaled deeply and murmurs under her breath, barely loud enough for anyone to hear, "Can you take care of Ayano for me..." Then she blushed and turned her head to the girl on the ground and said, "N-Not like I really care, though! I-I'm just a nice person, s-so don't take this for granted!"

Ayano could scoff mockingly if she had the energy to. This Osana was trying too hard to act like an angel. Even at this time, her dishonest side showed itself to block her thoughts. But right now, she needed to take advantage of this situation and gain Musume's attention. She made a fake, pitiful expression that looked like she was about to cry and stared at Musume, who was taken aback. "R-Ronshaku-senpai...p-please...save me from my pain... I-I don't wanna die..."

Both of the seniors felt their heartstrings being tugged. Musume flipped her hair and turned her head away, then she said, "A-Alright, fine! But I'm just doing this because I'm, like, a kindhearted lady and I wanted to give you something in return for the ciggies today!"

"Ciggies?" Osana raised an eyebrow, not sure what the foreign term meant.

"So noisy! Just get the nurse already, you idiot!"

"I-Idiot?! You-...whatever. Ugh, I knew I should've asked someone else," Osana said to herself as she stomped to the infirmary to find the nurse.

Ayano saw that she was now left alone with Musume Ronshaku again. For some reason, she felt her fever going away and her strength coming back. She stood up and wiped the sweat from her forehead, surprising Musume. Her heart rate increased gradually, giving her an excited, bloodthirsty feeling.

"Like, oh-em-gee, you're okay now? Then I'm gonna leave n-"

"Ronshaku-senpai." Ayano's voice was no longer croaky and weak. "I want you to follow me, there's something cool I want to show you."

Musume cocked her head to the side and raised her eyebrow in confusion. With not much time left before Osana returns, Ayano grabbed her hand without another word, surprising her again, and dragged her down the hallway and turned left so the nurse and Osana wouldn't see them. Her legs somehow weren't tired a bit and were more than willing to run faster.

They arrive at the small, empty storage room that had the familiar instrument case sitting in the middle at the opposite end of the room. This was the second time Ayano stepped into this place, yet it felt as refreshing as ever. She loved the sound of Saki Miyu's cries when she struggled to leave here.

"Hey, commoner girl, what is so cool in here? There's nothing but an ugly box," Musume complained for having to be dragged all the way here just to be disappointed.

Ayano turned around and faced her with a mysterious smile. "Ronshaku-senpai, do you know Kokona Haruka? She was a senior also, and she is...was in your class."

Musume tapped a finger on her chin, pretending to look cute while thinking, and answered, "Um, who is that? Am I, like, supposed to know her or something? Because, girl, I've never heard of that name before. It sounds ugly anyways."

Of course. Trash-eaters only pay attention to themselves. Prideful, selfish, and holding grudges for no reason. They insult you if you're ugly, they insult you if you're pretty, they'll hate you for what you lack, they'll hate you for what you have. No matter what you do, you will always be buried underneath the reeking sea of garbage humans.

"Kokona Haruka's father somehow got himself into a situation where he borrowed money from a group of violent, shady people from some business known as...what was it?" Ayano pretended to try to remember, then she smirked and continued, "Oh, yes, it was...Ronshaku Loans, wasn't it?"

Musume looked awfully offended and shapes her mouth into an "o" shape and put a hand on her chest. "H-How dare you call Daddy shady?! Don't you know who he is? I can go home right now and tell him what you said! Just wait, you'll never be able to live peacefully ever again! Trying to be some goody-two-shoes? Well guess what? Daddy will track you down and make your life a living hell! Doesn't matter if you leave this school or move to a different country, you'll always encounter one of his workers! You know why? Because they are, like, literally EVERYWHERE!"

The indifferent girl in front of her felt like she was radiating coldness from her icy, grey eyes. She smiled sweetly but wickedly at her while she screamed. Then, as if time itself stopped, she walked over to her, put her lips right next to her ear and whispered chillingly, "That's why...I can't let you go home anymore."

The young lady of the Ronshaku family widened her eyes, and her blue irises shrunk. Her breath was hitched in her throat as she was unable to make a sound. Cold sweat rolled down her head.

Ayano pulled out her syringe from behind her back, hugging her tightly so she couldn't move. Her victim yelped and struggled, screaming for help. She covered her mouth with the other hand to stop her.

"'Musume-sama', Ayano Aishi invites you over to her house...after a good, long slumber," she whispered again. Her hand holding the syringe swung to Musume's neck easily, since she had no self-defense capabilities whatsoever. The needle dug deeply into her flesh, blood and the extra tranquilizer that wasn't injected both spilled out rapidly.

Musume's irises trembled for a moment as tears leaked from her eyes. Then they rolled up, and her body lost conscious and landed on the wooden floor with a 'THUD!' Ayano dragged her by her hand and moved her to the instrument case. It smelled like Saki inside it. There was a long strand of turquoise hair from the previous victim. Ayano picked up Musume's body, stuffed it into the case and dropped the syringe in there.

After she closed the lid, she walked out of the room and closes the door behind her. The moment she stepped out, her heartbeat suddenly slowed down and the ill, uncomfortable feeling from before was smacked back into her, but this time it was worse. She began to feel dizzy, and the room began to blur and spin. Her head felt much more heavier than before.

"Ayano?! Where are you?!" Osana's worried voice from the opposite boomed, calling for her.

This was bad. If she stayed away for too long, she would look suspicious. She had to escape Osana and return home as fast as she could. But just as she stepped out a foot, she lost balance and fell forward, landing on her knees first and scraping it a little. Next, her stomach plopped onto the floor, her head fell last. The floor's colder temperature cooled her warm face down, and the wound on cheek from Musume didn't hurt as much anymore.

 _'Ah...this is it for me... I still have so many things left undone, and now I have to leave so early...how not thrilling... Senpai...I want to see you...'_

Her arms were completely numb now and had no energy left to move an inch. Her eyelids finally fell and covered her sight with darkness.

 _'...Soon...'_

Footsteps echoed in the empty hallway, probably someone coming downstairs. The person stopped moving for a moment and approached Ayano's weak body on the cold floor.

"Are you okay?!" It was a boy. And his voice was very masculine. From the maturity of it, Ayano assumed he was a senior. But when she replayed it again in her head, this familiar voice was definitely from the "obstacle", Budo Masuta. The martial arts club leader knelt down and helped support her back, making her sit up. Her head leaned back once it left the solid ground. She had her tired eyes close, but she could guess what kind of expression he was wearing. A troubled, questioning one. She was right, except she missed the worrying emotion.

Budo set his bag that had his martial arts uniform inside on the ground beside him and adjusted his position into a more comfortable one to hold Ayano. He placed a hand on her forehead to feel her temperature and winced at the burning touch. "So hot...this is no good," he muttered to himself. He grabed his bag and put it on his shoulder, then he picked Ayano up in a bridal style and began walking to the nurse's office.

Coincidentally, Osana encountered him with sweat all over her. She panted and tried to catch her breath, then widened her eyes when she saw Budo carrying Ayano. She sprinted to them while exclaiming, "Ayano! What happened?!"

"I found her laying flat on the ground unconscious, and I figured she had a fever, so I was looking for the nurse."

Osana sighed frustratingly and put her hands on her hips, looking annoyed. "That slutty nurse probably escaping work and found another boy to mess with. I tried looking for her, but she wasn't present in the school at all. Then I went back to look for Ayano, but she disappeared. Where did you find her?"

"Uh...by the stairs. Next to the storage room."

"Why would she...never mind." Osana reached out a hand and patted the sleeping Ayano's shoulder. "Ayano? Are you there or are you asleep?"

Ayano merely furrowed her eyebrows slightly, but nothing came out. A few seconds later, her eyelids fluttered open slowly, but everything she saw was still unclear. She moved her eyes up and saw Budo's chin. He lowered his head when he felt her moving her head.

"Nngh...Senpai..." she muttered.

Osana grabbed her hand gently with both of her hands and looks at her in relief. "I'm here, I'm here, Ayano. How do you feel now? Do you still feel dizzy?"

"Najimi...senpai..." Ayano tried to hide the disappointment in her tone. Her insides felt like they were being lit on fire. Her stomach twisted uncomfortably, and her throat felt like many needles were stabbing it as she spoke. She felt her vision darkening, as if her soul was being pulled out of her body and being led to death. Even before she left, she wasn't able to see her senpai for one last time. How hilarious.

Budo and Osana both widened their eyes when they saw Ayano's eyes beginning to water. Tears spilled out from them, yet she still did not change the blank expression on her face.

Ayano felt too weak to lift her arm and wipe her tears away. "I want to go home..." she said with a trembling voice. She swallowed a sob and added, "I don't want to die...take me away..."

"Ayano..."

Budo lifted his head and looked at Osana and said, "I'll take her home. Don't worry about it."

Osana's cheeks reddened and retorted, "N-No! You're a guy, I can't let you take advantage of my friend, especially when she's sick!"

"I promise I won't do anything, Najimi..." he sighed and chuckled nervous.

"That's what you boys all say! Hands off, I'm taking her with me."

"You really do care a lot about this girl, huh?"

"W-What?! No I don't! I-I'm just simply repaying her for protecting me this morning!"

"Yeah, yeah, whatever you say."

The two third years exited the building with Budo still carrying Ayano. Osana looked around and asked, "Ayano, do you ride a bike?"

Ayano began to breath harder when she felt her lungs running out of air. With her eyes still closed, she answered quietly, barely enough for Osana to hear. "The...the red one..."

"She said the red one," Budo repeated louder for Osana, who nodded and pushed open the school gates and ran to the right to the bike rack. She scanned her eyes over a few times and spotted the only red bike parked on the side. Then she took her time and walked over to there and pulled the bike out.

"I got it!" Osana signed Budo a thumbs-up and walked the bike along with her and approached him. After she sat down, Budo set Ayano behind her on the seat in a sitting position. Ayano leaned her body against Osana's bike unconsciously, then hesitantly wrapped her arms around Osana's waist.

"Be careful on your way home, alright? I'll be leaving, also," Budo warned.

Before he turned around, Osana stopped him and said with a blush, "Wait! Um...th...th...thank...you...Masuta-kun..." She felt proud when she finally said what she wanted to and ignored her pride.

Budo smiled wide. "You're welcome. See you tomorrow!" He waved her goodbye and ran back inside the school.

Osana started to peddle the bike and drove off. The sky was already the color of a tangerine by the time they left. She would sometimes raise her head up to admire the beautiful scene if the road ahead had no stop signs or turns.

The breeze felt comfortable when it blew against her face. She peddled a little harder to increase the speed, her long, orange hair floated the air when she does. It was silent the entire time, none of the girls spoke a word.

Osana lowered her head a little and swallowed. She decided to break the ice and said to Ayano, not knowing if she was awake or not, "Um...Ayano..."

She uttered a short 'hm' in response.

"Um...w-where do you live? I'll drop you by your house."

"I live in the neighborhood next to Najimi-senpai's..."

"O-Oh, well, th-that's convenient, huh?" she chuckled awkwardly. "Um...d-do you want to guide me to your house?"

"Drop me at the entrance of my neighborhood is enough, please..."

"O-Oh, um, sure!"

Another awkward silence took over. Osana felt uncomfortable and began to sweat nervously. She licked her dry lips and called, "A-Ayano..."

She uttered another 'hm'.

"Er...well...th-thanks...you know, f-for blocking Musume Ronshaku for me... I-Is there..." she exhaled, "Is there anything you want me...t-to do for you in return?"

Ayano slowly opened her exhausted eyes and stared at the moving road. She felt the girl in front of her tense up, waiting for her response. Osana tightened her grip on the bike's handle.

They turned down a corner and rode past a Seven Eleven market.

Ayano was quiet for a few more seconds, then replied, "...If it's okay with you..."

"O-Of course. I will try my best to do anything."

"Anything..."

"A-As long as it's not overboard, I meant!"

"...Najimi-senpai."

"Hm?"

"Do you...like...um..." Ayano couldn't bring herself to say Taro's name at all, so instead she said, "Do you like...th-the boy you always hang out with?"

"Taro?" Then it hit Osana about what she meant. "HAH? No! I-I don't like him at all! H-He's quiet, he's a coward, he's weak...! Th-The only thing good about him is that he's kind, he's smart, he's trustworthy, he's...um...he..." she blushed heavily and trailed off.

Her dishonesty was irritating, but a really good advantage. Ayano decided to use this advantage and requested, "Then...is it okay...if I like him?"

The bike came to a rest when they reached a stop sign. Osana's heart stopped when she learned that her new friend has feelings for her childhood friend, her best friend. The thought of them walking together in front of her, holding hands, and leaving her behind was painful to imagine. But how could she possibly take back her words? All Ayano asked was if she could like him or not. Such a small request, what is her reason to reject it?

"Najimi-senpai?"

"Huh? Oh..." she must've blanked out. She started peddling again and moved forward.

"Najimi-senpai...I really like him a lot. He was the first person to make me feel something, to make me feel like I am alive... He is like a star at night. No matter how fast I run, he always moves away from my reach... I thought...just being friends with him and secretly admiring him is enough for me... But..." Ayano clenched her hands and gripped onto Osana's shirt on her back tighter. She easily produced fake tears and wetted Osana's uniform. "But...thinking that one day he'll walk away from me...is so scary...! Please, I beg you, Najimi-senpai..."

"A-Ayano..."

"Please...don't take him away from me..."

"..." Osana turned her head to the side a few degrees and looked at the crying girl. She never knew Ayano was such a "delicate" and pure girl that could cry for a person. It pained her to see her crying and begging for something so pessimistic. But at the same time, she also did not want to see Taro close with another girl besides herself.

Ayano began to feel impatient when Osana was hesitating for such a long time. She loosened her grip on Osana's shirt and asked with a disappointing tone, "...Is that...too much to ask?"

"N-No!" she denied almost immediately and felt regret. Her mind was filled with different thoughts. She was the one who made a promise, saying she would do anything. What right did she have to back down now? Taro Yamada, the name of the one she loved so much, always stood next to her throughout her life. Her answer right now would change that forever. Taro...Taro...Taro...why did he like to torture her so much? Osana took a deep, shaky breath and answered, "...Okay. I'll try."

In this game, Osana Najimi lost to Ayano Aishi.

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.

.

Taro saw his best friend standing against the wall next to a street light, probably waiting for him. He walked up to her and called out, "Osana."

"Eh?!" she snapped out of her thoughts and turned her head towards him. Her face flushed red when she realized she embarrassed herself in front of him and raised her hand and smacked him on the back of his head again. "I-Idiot! Do you think it's fun scaring me or something?!"

He hissed through his teeth and rubbed his head. "I-I didn't know..."

"Then get an idea, i-idiot!"

Taro sighed helpless and apologized, "I'm sorry, Osana, for making you angry...again..."

"Idiot..."

They walked together, side-by-side, in the end, going back home. No matter how much they fought, or how much Taro was bullied by Osana, to be more exact, they always ended up making up without any word.

Their shadows grew longer and dragged behind them as they walked towards the direction of the sunset.

Osana glanced at Taro with mixed emotions in her amber eyes. From now on, she would have no authority over him, as she had given up on him for Ayano. Her eyes moved down and traveled to his slim hands. She remembered always telling him that he should play the piano. His fingers were slender and long, his skin pale and smooth, almost like a girl's. But those hands also hold warmth in them, and when they held hers, she felt like she was being protected by a knight.

She wanted to hold them again so bad, but they no longer belonged to her. The one to be holding them from now on was not her. In fact, they were probably never hers from the beginning. Her faith was not meant to cross roads with him. She did not wield the power to change it.

"Osana?" Taro looked at her worryingly. "Are you okay?"

"E-Eh...?" Osana saw two drops of liquid landing on the pavement road right in front of her feet before she noticed she's crying. She wiped them off and sniffed. Then she faked a smile and assured him, "I'm fine. Just...thought of something."

Taro pursed his lips and frowned. "You know, I'm always here for you. You can talk to me about anything you want."

Osana blushed deeply at his words. Was he really that dense? Did he know how easy she got affected by him? Then again, maybe he really didn't feel anything for her, so he said embarrassing things like it was normal.

"...Why are you such an idiot..." she muttered.

"...Huh?" Now Taro was very confused. Did he do anything wrong again?

Osana clenched her teeth tightly and began to lash out at him, "Idiot, idiot, idiot!" She hammers his chest with both of her fists repeatedly. "Taro, you're an idiot!"

"O-Ow, ow, O-Osana, stop!" Taro grabbed her wrists to restrain her from abusing him again. He widened his grey eyes when he saw Osana's crying face. Her lips trembled, and tears wouldn't stop coming out of her eyes. Taro furrowed his eyebrows and pulled her towards him, embracing her gently, and surprising her.

Osana gasped when her face touched his warm chest. "Y-You, w-w-what-"

Taro put one hand on the back of her head and made her lean against him. "Hit me all you want after this. I don't know what happened to you, but you can do anything that can make you smile again."

She became speechless. Finally, she lost her control and began crying with all her might. Taro's uniform got wet from her tears. Osana used both of her hands and grabbed Taro's shirt, wrinkling it.

This boy, the one she loved and hated at the same time so much, the one who was always there for her since young, was the reason why her mind was always in a mess. When would he ever realize how much of a sneaky bastard he was?

 _'Forgive me, Ayano...'_

Osana wrapped her arms around Taro tightly and cried into his chest.

 _'I couldn't fulfill my promise...'_

* * *

 **A/N:Originally this was supposed to be MUCH longer, because I was planning three characters' deaths here...but then I thought today's my birthday, just let me be lazier than before. So yeah, I'm making up an excuse to write another horrible chapter.**

 **Edit: This chapter was revised and edited by a Wattpad user named CheshireCatSam, and I thank her for it.**


	8. Chapter 8

**Daaaang, Phoenix, back at it again with the late/lame updates and horrible excuses? ~Phoenix**

* * *

 _"Time will destroy you..." she said as she took out a match from the matchbox and lit it up. The flame would rise and weaken, like a human's heart. "It will slowly eat you away, and you will wither and fade...until no one remembers you."  
_ _  
The girl she tortured laid on the ground, drenched in gasoline. Her body twitched in pain. With her last seconds of life, she smirked and replied with a twisted smile, "I'm already dead."_

That statement became true after the lit match was thrown onto her torso, letting the fire spread all over her body.

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A large bucket of water was splashed onto the blonde-haired girl, causing her to yelp in surprise and wake from her long slumber. Somehow, even if she's awake, she had found herself in darkness. At first, she thought maybe her eyes haven't adjusted to the different lighting, yet, but then she felt herself sitting on something hard, and her hands and feet were not able to move. It felt like they were tied to the chair she's sitting in with a thick, rough rope.

Her heart rate increased gradually, knowing the situation she could be in right now. She rocked her body back and forth with all her might, only managing to make the chair land on the ground with a loud _'THUD!'_ There were echoes of the sound. This room must be hollow and empty.

"I-Is anyone there...?" she said weakly, testing to see if this is a prank. There were no answers. Cold sweat rolled down her forehead and wetted the blindfold on her eyes. Her breathing fastened. "Th-This isn't funny! W-Who are you?! Where am I?! How dare you pull such a dirty trick on me?! Daddy will definitely kill you for this!" Then she suddenly came to realize she was alone. "D-Daddy...? Are you there? Daddy? DADDY! HELP!"

She felt a hand slap her across the face, causing her body to lean towards that direction. Her screams immediately stopped.

"Shut the hell up already, you annoying pest..." It was a feminine voice, and she sounded really grumpy and exhausted. "Don't make me cut off your tongue."

"W-Who..." Musume stuttered as tears gathered in her covered eyes, drenching the blindfold more. "Who are you?! What do you want from me?! And how dare you slap me?!" She felt another blow on her other cheek, this time even harder than the first one.

Ayano covered one side of her face with one hand and stared down at the spoiled brat with hateful eyes. "I don't like repeating myself, you dirty cockroach." Her skin was paler than before from exhaustion and her sickness from school yesterday in the afternoon. It was currently around three o' clock in the morning of a Saturday, and she had been sleeping until she was awoken by the annoying sounds and screams Musume made in her basement.

Perhaps if she had known she was sick, she wouldn't have kidnapped Musume Ronshaku and sneaked back into the school in midnight just to carry the heavy instrument case containing her victim back home. But her body was not nearly important as capturing Taro Yamada's heart.

Musume began to choke and sob. "W-Why did you kidnap me?! Who are you?! J-Just what do you want f-from me?!"

Ayano lifted her foot and kicked her in the stomach, hard enough to make her chair lean back and land on the ground again. Musume coughed when she felt her lungs run out of air. "I don't think this is the tone a victim should have when speaking to their kidnapper," Ayano stated calmly, her voice sending a chill down Musume's spine.

"Y-You..." Musume coughed a few more times, "P-Please...let me go! I-I'll do anything! Anything, I-I promise! I'll buy you whatever you want! My daddy can give you all the money you want! J-Just, please, don't kill me!"

Her voice was loud and obnoxious and made Ayano's head ring. She hissed through her teeth quietly and massaged her temple with one hand. Musume's pleads were nothing like Saki's. While Saki Miyu's screams were deliciously in despair, Musume was willing to give up her father for her own life. Typical trash-eater. Typical human.

Ayano reached out with both hands and pinched Musume's cheeks roughly, stretching it outward, as if trying to pull her face off, earning a cry from her. She leaned her face close to Musume's and put on a horrifying look. "This mask... THIS UGLY MASK!" Ayano bellowed, veins popping on her forehead in anger. "I want to burn it, I want to cut it, I want to tear it off with my bare hands!" Her grasp on Musume's skin tightened, and she pulled even harder.

Musume wailed from the pain, unable to close her mouth from the force. "S-STHOFF, FLEASE!" she pleaded, feeling her skin beginning to rip off.

"THE TRUTH! I WANT TO SEE THE TRUTH! I WANT TO SEE REALITY! BUT NO, ALL YOU HUMANS WEAR THESE UGLY MASKS THAT ARE COVERED WITH LIES AND DECEITS! LIES, LIES, LIES, LIES, LIES, LIES, LIES, LIES, LIES, LIES, LIES, LIES, LIES, LIES, LIES, LIES!" Ayano let out an ear-piercing scream and grabbed Musume's entire head with both of her hands and pulled on her glimmering, blonde hair with all of her fingers.

Musume could feel her scalp being lifted as she cried even louder for mercy. Ayano then pushed her back, letting the chair rock again. Musume's tan face was visibly red from the struggle, and her tears and drool were smeared all over. Her golden hair was all messy, and some pieces were pulled off and fell onto the floor.

Ayano panted and pushed her bangs aside that blocked her view. She used her pajamas' blue sleeve and wiped the sweat from her forehead. Her temperature cooled down after she sweated, but her head felt even more nauseous from the sudden movements.

More tears rolled down Musume's face. Her body felt cold from the water, her nose felt stuffed from the bawling, and her cheeks throbbed from the pain. She wanted to cry her heart out so much, but she was scared to go through the torture again.

Giving Musume one last glance, she turned around and walked back upstairs, slamming the door aggressively behind her, causing Musume to jolt. Death waited for her.

.

"Hello, is anyone in there?" a voice said from outside, ringing the doorbell.

Ayano grabbed her towel and wiped the cold water off her face. Then she hung the towel back and took a rubber band to tie her black hair that reaches to a little bit below her shoulder level up into a simple ponytail. She ran out of the bathroom and head to the door.

She pressed her ear against the door and carefully asked, "...Who is this?" It was surprising since Ayano usually never got visitors except for her parents' guests. Who even visits another person at seven o'clock in the morning without notifying them first?

The voice replied back, "It's me, Masuta. I came to check up on you."

"Masuta-senpai?" Ayano repeated. What business does he have with her this early on a Saturday morning? Ignoring her thoughts, she twisted the doorknob and opened the door, revealing Budo Masuta standing there, arms crossed in front of his chest. He was wearing casual clothes, a long-sleeved, navy blue shirt under a light blue, short-sleeved one, and long jeans. His white sneakers were a little bit dirty.

Budo flashed her a smile and greeted, "Morning. How are you doing now? Still feeling sick?"

"I'm doing much better, tha-..." she trailed off when she remembered that she still has a girl trapped in her basement. Inviting someone as stealthy and strong as Budo Masuta inside will be a terrible idea. She quickly used both hands and pushed him back, surprising him.

"W-Whoa, what?" Budo stumbled a bit.

"I'm sorry, let's talk someplace else!" Ayano said before shutting her door back. She calmed her heartbeat and ran back into her bedroom to look for clothes to put on. In the end, she decided to put on a white, long-sleeved shirt and black pants.

Budo roamed around in one spot in front of Ayano's door awkwardly, waiting for her to come back out. Being "kicked" out of someone's house really harmed his dignity, but perhaps he would hear an explanation later.

A few minutes later, the door cracked open again. Ayano was wearing an outdoors outfit and a white surgeon mask to prevent her disease from spreading, even though she would love seeing humans suffer from illness with her. "I'm ready, Masuta-senpai," she said with an indifferent look. She closed the door behind her and walked towards him.

The two students walked next to each other on the sidewalk, both enjoying the cool breeze blowing against their skin. For some reason, the cherry blossom trees on the sidewalks look even more elegant, even though it was summer. Ayano held out a hand and allowed a petal to softly land on her palm.

 _'How delicate...'_ she thought, a sorrowful emotion reflected in her gray eyes as they stare at it. _'It's as if it can break apart with the gentlest touch...'_ The color of the flower's petal was so light, too pure for this world full of chaos and pollution, lies and fables. Such a majestical living didn't deserve to live through this disgusting life. Just like him.

"Senpai..." she unconsciously muttered out loud.

"Hmm?" Budo turned his head to her, thinking she called him.

Ayano felt embarrassed when she remembered there's also a Masuta-senpai next to her. She cleared her throat dryly and stated, "N-Nothing... I was just thinking about something."

Budo smiled and asked out of curiosity, "Oh? What were you thinking of that involved me in it?"

There was a familiar feeling of despise inside her mind. Who did he think he is, believing she would ever have him in her thoughts? How did he dare to compare his petty self to Taro? Was he an idiot?

But to appear normal and polite, Ayano made up a lie and said, "I was thinking...high school is almost ending for me. I only have a year left before I enter adulthood. I...I was thinking of how should I plan my future. There are so many things I want to do, yet there's so little time to go through. Human lives are so weak and delicate, that they can easily fall with just a light touch. I want to move forward, but I am scared to even take the first step..." She turned her head and looked at Budo straight in his eyes, seeing her own reflection in them. "Masuta-senpai, I envy you, I really do. You have a goal to work for, you have the motivation and the mind to push yourself towards that goal. I enjoy you a lot, Masuta-senpai. A guy with a dream is oddly...attractive."

This should be enough to improve her reputation in his point of view and make it easier to approach him and get rid of this obstacle.

A light blush rose on Budo's cheeks. He stayed silent for a moment and smiled sheepishly, chuckling to hide his embarrassment from the sudden flattery he received. He coughed into his fist and placed his hand on the back of his neck. "That was...ha ha... Attractive, huh? That's the first time I've heard someone call me that, and someone like you would've be the last person I expected to say it."

"Someone like me, you say? Please enlighten me, what kind of person am I?" Ayano asked as the two turned around a corner.

"Well, if I have to use a word, I'll say you are mysterious. You know, how you usually never speak unless spoken to, and somehow you managed to never reveal your personality. How should I explain this...it's as if...you are wearing a mask that hides your true self, you know?"

Ayano stopped her footsteps immediately. "...Mask...?"

Budo also stopped and turned around to look at her with a questioning expression. "What's the matter?" he asked.

"Mask...?" Ayano's eyes widened in horror. She lowered her head and stared at the concrete floor. Her lungs suddenly stopped functioning. She backed up a few steps, still looking at the ground. Sweat poured down her head and her throat became dry. Both of her hands touched her cheeks, then they moved to her forehead and chin, then touched every part of her face.

"A-Are you okay?" Budo asked worriedly.

"Mask...mask...mask..." Ayano repeated under her breath to herself. She crouched down slowly and placed both hands on her cheeks, her index and middle fingers above her eyes and her ring finger and pinky below them. "I'm...wearing...a mask..."

Budo knelt down on one knee and lowered his head to look at Ayano's face. He looked shocked when he saw tears streaming down from her blank eyes. "H-Hey, were you...offended by what I said?" Guilt swarmed inside him. "Um...y-you don't have to take anything I said seriously, I-I was only..." he trailed off when he noticed she wasn't listening at all.

"I'm wearing a mask... A mask..." She watched her own tears drop land on the ground. "In the end...I'm also wearing a mask... I'm also a trash-eater... I...I..." she choked.

Budo furrowed his eyebrows and grabbed one of Ayano's wrists and pulled it away from her face. "No, you're not! Listen..."

"A mask...I'm no better...I deserve to die..." Ayano continued on to herself, not taking in any words from Budo.

He clicked his tongue and pulled the wrist he's holding towards him, letting her body lose balance and fall onto his. He wrapped his arms around her small body, embracing her with his comforting strength. Thank goodness it was still early in the morning and no one else was outside of their homes at the moment, he was afraid she might feel embarrassed under bystanders' gazes.

"You don't deserve to die, nobody does. Don't take what I said as an insult. I find you very unique and you have your own charm. I know, I know you might be afraid that no one else will accept you this way. But as Bruce Lee once said, 'Fear comes from uncertainty. We can eliminate the fear within us when we know ourselves better.' Don't feel scared because you are different. If you ever feel unwanted, I can be there for you!"

Ayano's eyes looked over Budo's shoulder. It was such a beautiful day outside, crying would only ruin it. If Taro knew she was a girl who cried, he would definitely despise her and leave her. She was not a trash-eater, she just has troubles expressing herself. Osana Najimi was the trash-eater. She needed to be erased from this world. Ayano pushed Budo's chest gently, letting him release her. She wiped her eyes with a hand and said, "Thank you, Masuta-senpai."

"Anytime."

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.

The camera took a while to focus on Musume, who still had her eyes blindfolded. It was an old camera, so it would sometimes glitch when recording. Ayano bent over to look at the camera lens to test if it was clear enough, patting it if it became blurry. As soon as it focused, she stood back up straight and turned to the tied up girl.

Musume's body was shivering in fear, and the wooden chair already had scratches from her fingernails scratching against it to calm herself down. What a shame, it ruined the shape of her beautiful nails that Ayano planned to show to her father. His reaction would've been hilarious. Hilariously horrified, that is.

Ayano approached her and grabbed her head with one hand by using her thumb and four fingers to grip on either side of her face. Musume yelped at the sudden force, then started to scream louder when she felt it increase, threatening to break her skull. Ayano pushed her head back and released her hand, causing the back of her head to hit the chair.

"W-Why are you...doing this...to me...?" Musume weeped, "W-Who are you...? What do you want from me? Money? Clothes? ...M-My body?" She earned a slap in the face again.

"Disgusting," Ayano said with a loathing expression, "I don't want any of your trash, you trash-eater." She then took out her phone and held it sideways with her index fingers and thumbs. She knelt down in front of her and turned on the camera, pointing the center directly at the area between her tan thighs. The annoying skirt was getting in the way of her picture. Ayano clicked her tongue in annoyance and flipped Musume's shorter-than-average skirt up, revealing her neon pink panty.

Musume's breathing hitched. "W-What are you doing?!" She tried to close her legs together, but the ropes that tied her ankles prevented that.

"Your biggest mistake was to wear such a short skirt. It's your fault for being a flashy slut. Who can you blame?" Ayano sneered and pressed the camera button. A clear shot of Musume's underwear was captured nicely on her phone. She pulled up her conversation with her provider and sent the photo. Not waiting for a response, she stood up and walked to her camera that's standing nicely on the tripod.

This beautiful scene couldn't be enjoyed only by herself. Sharing was caring after all.

"Hey, pest, say hello to your father for me, will you?" Ayano cooed with a wide smirk. "Oh, wait, I forgot. You won't see him again!" she laughed, enjoying the bitter look on Musume's face. She pressed the record button, wanting to capture this beautiful moment they shared.

Musume gripped onto the handles of the chair tighter, her wrists and ankles aching under the tight ropes. This humiliation she felt was completely unbearable. As a Ronshaku, she had never been the one to lose over anything, especially her dignity. "...Daddy...please...help...I'm scared...I don't wanna die..." she sobbed helplessly.

Ayano watched her victim crying under her breath, scared and pained, with pleasure. She stoped the recording, removed the camera from the tripod and replayed the video with a satisfied smile. She would only have a real smile on her face when seeing these filthy humans being tortured. Ayano transferred the video from the camera onto her phone and played it with full volume, then she placed it near Musume's ear. Musume cringed at the sudden loud noise of her own voice begging for help.

"How is it? To listen to such a pathetic voice pleading for help from another person because she is so weak and useless?" Ayano asked with a chilling tone. "I personally enjoy it a lot."

She received silence as her response. Ayano scoffed and said, "What a pitiful insect. Trying to act so tough when your wings already snapped a long time ago? I don't think so." She grabbed Musume's ear and pulled very hard, letting her hear more clearly.

Musume wimped, begging, "P-Please...don't do this to me...I'll give you anything..."

"Anything?" Ayano repeated, "Then...I want your life." Before Musume could retort, Ayano interrupted, "Of course, you didn't have a choice whether or not to give me it to begin with. I'm the one that decides if it's useful to me."

She then withdrew her phone and pulled up the dial pad. "What's your father's number?" When she didn't receive answer, she turned around and slapped Musume across her face and asked with a higher volume, "What's your father's number?!"

The Ronshaku daughter swallowed her sob and opened her mouth, her bottom lip trembling. She gave her kidnapper her father's number, stuttering and fearing. This might be her only chance to stay alive.

Ayano grinned and dialed the number, adding it as a contact. She inserted the video she recorded of Musume and sent it to her father, then typed, "Watch this video." She waited patiently for a reply.

On the other side, her contact just heard his phone ring and felt it vibrate in his coat's pocket. He turned his back to his client and pulled out his phone to see two new messages from a foreign number. His irises shrunk when he saw the video of his dear daughter being held as a hostage, pleading for him to rescue her. His heart twitched in pain when he heard her weak voice calling him.

"You scumbag! What have you done to me daughter?!"

An appropriate reaction. "I haven't harmed her..." Ayano spared a glance at her victim with a smirk and added, "...yet."

Musume's father kicked his table and broke a leg of it, causing it to tumble onto the ground with a loud crash. His customer jumped from his sudden rage and backed up, afraid to be injured.

"If you ever want to see her again, you must do as I say."

"What do you want from me?!"

Ayano's gray eyes glimmered. "Free all of your clients from debt."

Another kick to the table, this time a lot harder. The client standing before it shrieked and backed up more. Musume's father's breathing intensified from the inner fire caused by anger and anxiety. "Are you insane?! That would sink my business!"

That was exactly what she wanted. Ayano desired to witness him suffer from agony and regret, seeing his daughter die because of his selfish decision of choosing money over her. Humans wouldn't change after all.

"For every day that your clients remain in debt, I'll remove one of your daughter's fingers." She paused and reached out to touch Musume's fingers tenderly. Musume flinched from the sudden cold touch. "If you want her back in one piece, you must act immediately."

"You monster..."

Ayano chuckled at this childish insult. How should she be affected from being called a monster by a human, something even worse than a monster?

A long pause later, he texted, "...Fine...I'll do it."

The corners of her mouth stretched further. "Good decision." Good decision indeed.

Musume's father tightened his grip on his phone, then his hand began to tremble. He led out a scream and threw his phone onto the ground, startling his client once again. He lifted his head to look at the client with mixed emotions in his eyes. He clenched his teeth tightly and balled his hands into fists, his nails digging deep in his palm.

The client gulped and called out, "M-Mr. Ronshaku...?"

He looked at him one last time and slumped onto his chair with a long sigh. After this decision, his life would change forever. The worst was, he could not be sure if the maniac who kidnapped his daughter would keep their promise. With a low voice, he said, "...You're free. You don't have to pay your debts anymore."

No matter what trouble he would face, no matter how much money he would lose, his daughter needed to be alive and that's all that matters.

Ayano turned off her phone and shoved it back into her pocket, then she turned and stareed at the blindfolded Musume with a wide grin. She left her and went upstairs to go to her kitchen, flipping through the drawers to find a tweezer. It wasn't used much, so the metal was still clean and the opposite of rusty. She then returned to her basement, snapping the tweezer for fun on her way.

Musume was paralyzed when she heard footsteps getting louder. She gulped and stuttered, "W-What do you want n-now...? Daddy already...d-did what you said, r-release me now!"

"About that..." Ayano said, walking towards her with her tweezer in hand, "I did just make a promise to him, right?"

For some reason, Musume's heart stopped beating for a moment when a thought of what would happen next hit her.

Ayano gently caressed her left hand that was still tied to the chair by the wrist. Musume stubbornly balled her hand into a tight fist, not allowing her fingers to be exposed. Because of that, she earned a kick to the shin, causing her to scream and spread her fingers. Ayano grabbed her index finger and placed the tip of the nail in between the tweezer.

"For every day that his clients remain in debt..." Ayano closed the the space between the nail and the tweezer with a dark smile, "...I will remove one of his daughter's fingers. Since today is the first day, I'll go easy on you."

With that, she pulled with all her might, cleanly ripping off the entire fingernail off of her finger.. Musume screamed at the top of her lungs from the pain, but it wouldn't stop the endless flowing of her red blood coming out of her finger. Ayano allowed a drop of blood to land on the tip of her finger and put it in her mouth to taste it. She frowned deeply and said, "What an awful taste... I didn't know the amount of trash you contain already oozed into your bloodstream, you trash-eater... Let's taste the other ones, shall we?"

"N-NO, PLEASE! DON'T DO IT! I'LL DO ANYTHING! PLEASE STOP!"

Ignoring her pleads, Ayano threw the bloody nail onto the floor and snapped the tweezer a couple more times. She ripped off the nail of her middle finger and let three drops of blood land on her tongue. She shook her head disappointedly at the taste and scowled. Almost immediately, her frown merged into a wide smile again. "No good, either... Let's try another one!"

"NO! NOT AGAIN! ANYTHING BUT THAT! PLEASE, NO!"

Her ring fingernail was off.

"Still not good. Again!"

Next comes her pinky nail.

"Again!"

Her thumb nail also fell.

"Again!"

After many unsatisfying tastes, all of Musume's fingernails were ripped off and scattered all around the floor. Blood dripped from her hands, dirtied the gray floor and produced horrible odors into the room. She was the only who's disturbed by it, but the overwhelming pain in her fingers already took away half of her consciousness. The cold air in the basement did not decrease it from the exposed flesh.

Ayano wiped the remaining blood off of the corner of her mouth with the back of her hand. An idea suddenly hit her, and she went back upstairs to find more tools.

"PLEASE, STOP! I DON'T KNOW ANYTHING, I DON'T KNOW WHO YOU ARE, BUT I BEG YOU, PLEASE STOP! I-IT HURTS!" Musume hollered after her when she heard her leaving the room again. She didn't hear a reply. Tears trickled down her face as she repeatedly thought about her father. If she were to go home earlier, would this torture still happen?

"Daddy...please...help me... I promise I'll eat my veggies... I promise I'll start doing my homework... Please...help...it hurts... Somebody...somebody help..."

The contrast of the silence in the basement and the muffled loud clinking noises upstairs brought shivers down her spine. Her eyes were covered by a bothersome cloth, preventing her to even see the miserable place she was in. Her choked sobbing sounds echoed in the empty room. The blindfold was already wet from her helpless cryings, and the pain of her fingers sent shocking sensations to her entire body.

After the long moment of alone time in the dark, she finally heard heavy footsteps again, returning to her and bringing some the clinking sounds she heard that seemed to come from plates. She was right. Ayano carried a plate with both hands. On top of it was a cheese grater, a spoon, and a pair of scissors.

"...What do you plan on doing now...?" Musume managed.

Ayano picked up the cheese grater and walked towards her with a menacing smile, not giving her a reply. She tucked her free index finger under her chin and lifted her trembling head. Her chin felt wet and sticky from her tears. She rubbed her bottom with her thumb that still has the blood from her fingers.

With an adoring look and red cheeks, she cooed, "Look at you...so vulnerable, so weak, completely exposed... There's no masks covering your face, hiding your true expressions. I love this side of you, darling..."

Musume gulped and pressed her lips into a straight line.

"Don't you agree? How much cleaner would this world be if all the masks were burned into ashes? No more dirty lies, no more filthy fables, just plain truths. I want to contribute to this world by starting my plan of ripping off masks of each human's faces. Those trash-eaters will definitely admire how you look!" Ayano touched her cheek gently, feeling the dried tear streak. "Now that we took off your mask..." she said as she lifted the hand that held the grater, "...why not reveal a little more?"

Ayano slammed the cheese grater on Musume's arm, creating sickening, cracking noises that possibly came from her bones. She pressed the grater against her arm as hard as she could and started dragging it across the skin.

Musume screamed from the dreadful pain. Her throat began to feel sore, but nevertheless she continued to bawl out loud. She felt her skin slowly being grinded and peeled off from the grater. She desperately cried for help, even if she knew no one will come to save her.

"Yes...just like this... This is it!" Ayano yelled as she rubbed the tool even faster. When she stopped, she lifted the bloodied grater up to see Musume's flesh and blood mixed together. The metallic smell satisfied her thirst, but not enough. She walked over to the other side and smashed the grater on her other arm, smearing the blood on it and began grating her skin again.

"Please...stop...no... NO!" Musume began to feel nauseous from exhaustion and pain. She didn't want to scream anymore, but the terrible feeling on her arms squeezed the voices out of her. "I-I beg of you, please stop!"

Thin layers of skin were peeled off and dropped onto the ground in a messy, bloody puddle with the fingernails. Ayano stopped her actions and wiped the sweat from her forehead. She then paused to look at her new creation.

Muscles and flesh were exposed in both arms with red smeared all over. She successfully destroyed the fake, plastic layer of the human skin a trash-eater wore.

Ayano threw the grater that was covered in blood and remaining pieces of skin onto the ground, startling Musume with the loud banging sound. She turned around to pick up the pair of scissors and snapped it to test out how sharp it was.

Musume's stomach felt ill from the heavy smell of herself in this small space in the basement. Her breathing slowed down and she could feel her body going to sleep. She prayed for death to come drag her away from this hellish torture.

"Why aren't you screaming? I loved hearing that, you know?" Ayano asked with a devilish smirk.

The corners of Musume's mouth tugged into a grin. She relaxed her head on the top of the chair and pointed her face towards the ceiling. "I give up... I wouldn't want to satisfy a monster like you..." she inhaled and continued, "The truth is...you're the one that's wearing a mask, huh? Pretending to be sweet and innocent...but inside, you're just a demon!"

A loud slap landed on her face. She tasted blood from the huge impact.

Ayano's bangs covered one eye, and shadow covered the top half of her face. Her visible eye was widened and her iris shrunk to minimum, resembling the look of a psychopath she is. "Mask, huh?" she repeated, "Pest, I'm going to tell you now, that I really hate that tongue of yours, always babbling nonsense with ease. I think I'll do everyone a favor..." she grabbed her chin and forced her mouth to open, the other hand raising while holding the scissors, "...and cut it off."

Musume felt Ayano's thumb entering her mouth and pressed her tongue, causing her to cough and choke. Her thumb moved under her tongue and her index finger slipped in and was on top of her tongue. She felt her tongue being pinched with force and was being pulled. Musume tried to struggle by withdrawing her tongue, but Ayano digged her nails into it, making her taste blood again. Ayano pulled her tongue out of her mouth and opened the pair of scissors. She moved it right in front of Musume's face and put her tongue in between the blades. With that, she snapped the scissors shut, cutting off the tongue swiftly.

Her victim led out a long and sharp scream on top of her lungs as blood rushed into her own mouth. Some extra poured out and dirtied her uniform.  
"There you go, sweetheart..." Ayano examined the severed tongue. "What vengeful scream can be heard from a severed tongue?" She threw the tongue onto the ground, next to the skin and nails.

After releasing all of her energy on bawling, Musume finally fainted, numbing her body systems.

Ayano clicked her tongue in annoyance and headed back upstairs again. Several minutes later, she came back down, carrying a bucket of red liquid in it. Inside was simply just water, except she added an entire jar of paprika. Freshly made from the best chili peppers. She swung her arms and splashed the spicy water onto the Ronshaku, waking her up immediately.

Musume screamed even more when she felt the spicy powder entering her wounds, letting out more blood. At this rate, she will definitely die of blood loss.  
"Hey, hasn't the teacher told you before, do not sleep during lectures?" Ayano asked with a fake sweet voice, dumping the remaining drops of water on her, purposely aiming for her arm.

"You...mon...ster..." Musume stressed out.

"Oh, silly me, I just realized all this time you couldn't see me!" Ayano mocked a surprised tone, "I guess I'll need to make up for my mistakes. I can't be impolite to my guest, am I right?" With that, she reached out and grabbed the pink blindfold, pulling it off her face.

Musume squeezed her eyes from the sudden brightness, even though it's quite dim in the basement, but a huge difference from the complete darkness under that piece of cloth. She slowly fluttered open her eyelids and blinked a couple more times to adjust to the light, then she turned her head to the right to look at her kidnapper. Her blue irises shrunk.

"Y-You...you're..."

"Enjoying the view, Ronshaku-senpai?"

"You...y-you're...you...y-you..." Musume stared in disbelief. "I-Is this some sort of sick revenge for that morning...? IS THIS WHY YOU'RE TORTURING ME?!" Anguish built up inside her as she hollered.

Ayano scoffed and crossed her arms, giving her a look of despise. "Who do you think you are, trash-eater, to affect me so much with the mere garbage you spit out from that dirty mouth of yours? I'm doing this merely because I promised someone, and I never go back on my words..." She walked to the plate she placed on the floor and threw the cheese grater to the side. She bent over and picked up the spoon, then walked back to Musume.

Musume felt sick, coming to a conclusion that multiple people wanted her dead, when in reality it was just one. "W-What do you want now?! Why won't you just kill me?!"

"Because that wouldn't be fun," Ayano replied. She used her thumb and index finger to stretch one of Musume's eyes wider, revealing a few red veins in the whites. "Hmm...I suppose this can be a good decoration. I want to borrow it."

"N-NO!"

"No...? Hmm...how strange. Since when did I ask for you permission?" Ayano grabbed the spoon's handle, letting the bowl point downwards. Her hand hovered over Musume eye, aiming for the eyeball. With that, she slashed down, letting the bowl dig into the side, carefully avoiding to damage the eyeball while stabbing the inside.

Musume's scream of pain and agony echoed in the room and rang in Ayano's ear, making her cringe slightly.

Ayano pulled out the spoon, now stained with blood, and stabbed again, digging deeper into the eye. She repeated this process over and over again, a total of thirty-seven stabs. When her spoon was finally able to slip in, she pulled it to the side, sliding around the eyeball, cutting the parts that's clinging onto it. Ayano then tugged the spoon towards herself, popping the entire eyeball out of its socket, blood streaming out. She ripped the eyeball out and examined it in her hand.

"Strange...why is it so dirty?" she asked herself out loud, rubbing the blood off, "Oh, right...it's because you're a human, huh?" She kept the eyeball in her fist and used her fingers to force open the other eye, stabbing it again with the edge of the bowl of her spoon.

"Ah...hh..." Musume uttered out, not able to raise her volume anymore. She coughed on her own blood, which spilled out of her mouth when she did so.

When her other eyeball was out, Ayano put it in her hand that held the first one, so now she has both in one hand. She threw the spoon onto the ground and used that hand to grab the sides of Musume's face again, forcing her mouth to open. Then she slammed the hand that was holding the eyes onto her mouth, dumping the eyeballs into her throat, and she clamped her hand over her mouth, forcing her to swallow them.

Musume choked on her own body part, feeling extremely disgusted and nauseous.

"I think it's time I return you to your father now, Ronshaku-senpai," Ayano stated and knelt down to untie the ropes, revealing deep bruises, blisters, and  
scars carved in the flesh. These were the results of having too much dirt on you for too long, and now having to scrub them off in the quickest way possible.

Ayano walked to the corner to where she put the instrument case and opened it. Then she went back to carry Musume on her back, and she dropped her fragile body into the box. She slammed the lid shut, cutting off the interactions Musume have with the outside world once again. After she locked it, she began to push it towards the stairs, then walked around to pull it upwards.

This brat should've eaten less garbage so she wouldn't be this heavy.

.

.

.

By the time she arrived to the school's entrance, the sun had already lowered itself to the height level of the mountains and buildings. The sky was painted in brilliant red, so lively, it felt like blood would drip from it at any moment. Even the clouds were tinted in red. Ayano stretched her arm out towards the direction of the sun, trying to reach it with her own hand.  
 _  
'How bright...how red. Like the heart, it's beating gracefully, full of energy, with all its might, giving us life...'  
_  
She clenched her hand into a fist.

 _'I want to feel alive again... Senpai...'  
_  
She withdrew her hand and began to bend over to push the instrument case towards the locked gate. Cursing in her mind, she walked up to the gate and hammered it with her fist, trying to see if she can open it. It was not long before she saw a student walked out of the building and saw her outside of the gate, locked out of the school grounds.

"Ruto...senpai?" Ayano said the name in confusion as the occult club president walked towards her.

Oka Ruto was also surprised to see her coming to school on a Saturday afternoon. She stood right in front of her behind the gate and asked, "A-Aishi-san? What are you doing here today?"

"I could ask you the same thing, Ruto-senpai."

"Oh...well...I-I needed some...some tutoring on a few classes...s-so...I came here for that..."

This was news to Ayano. From appearances and personality, she would've thought Oka was a stereotypical shy but smart girl, but learning that her studies don't go that well wasn't exactly that shocking. It was none of Ayano's business anyways.

"A-Aishi-san...w-what are you doing here?" Oka asked.

"...Business. Private business. It's best if you...Ruto-senpai...don't ask about it."

"O-Oh...sorry, I-I'm being annoying again...aren't I..."

"I didn't say that."

"I-It's okay, I-I know myself...oh, I just realized I haven't unlocked the door for you, s-so sorry!" Oka panicked a little and began to pull out the school's key from her pocket and unlocked the gate. She put the key back in her pocket to return it later and pushed the gate open.

"Thank you," Ayano stated and stepped into the school grounds.

Before she went any further, Oka stopped her on her tracks and muttered, "Aishi-san..."

She turned her head slightly to listen.

"Your...aura, it's not clean... I've heard...that if your aura is unclean...that means you bear a huge burden that keeps you from living a free life..." Oka looked at her with concerned violet eyes. "Aishi-san...I will be in my club...i-if you want to...um...discuss about it..."

Absolutely not. The only person who's ever allowed to share an endearing moment of conversing personal topics with her is Taro, and only Taro. The thought of being alone with a pest like the gothic, coward occult club president, also the thief that wanted to steal her beloved away from her, utterly disgusted her.

She snapped out of her thoughts when Oka called her name. Then she lifted her head to look at her in the eyes and replied with a flat tone, "I do not have anything preventing me from living freely, Ruto-senpai."

"A-Are you sure...?"

"Yes, I am very certain about my own condition."

"O-Oh...ha...I'm being...nosy again, a-aren't I..." Oka lowered her head and bit her bottom lip.

"No such thing. You were just worried. I will be on my way, now. See you on Monday, Ruto-senpai." Without waiting for her answer, Ayano headed towards the direction of the school's garden while pushing the heavy case. Oka lingered a little longer, until she finally decided to leave, after she left the gate key on the ground for Ayano to use after she returned.

Ayano felt movement in the instrument case and figured the loanshark's daughter must be awake by now. She looked behind her to see if Oka Ruto was still there and opened the lid of the case when she saw she wasn't. Musume Ronshaku laid in the box, narrowing her eyebrows, appearing to have a nightmare. Ayano reached both hands into the case and slid under her neck and knees, then she lifted her up and carried her in her arms.

Musume squinted her eyelids. Dried blood was shown beneath her eyes after her eyeballs were curved out. She groaned a little from the pain and felt that she was being transported away.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?! WHO IS THIS?! ARE YOU HERE TO TORTURE ME AGAIN?! LET ME GO!" she yelled, struggling and squirming weakly in Ayano's arms.

Ignoring her cries, Ayano ran as fast as she could into the garden and found the grinding machine. Using her foot, she lifted her leg and kicked the lid, letting it go up and revealed the sharp, terrifying circular saws inside. She furrowed her eyebrows in frustration when Musume kept on kicking when she tried to put her in.

"Quiet down, you idiot. You are hurting my ears," Ayano growled.

But she didn't listen. Instead, she hollered even louder than before. "SOMEBODY, PLEASE, HELP ME! I'M BEING KIDNAPPED! HELP! HELP!"

Ayano sighed mockingly and said, "Welp, I wanted to be gentle..." She swung her arms back and threw Musume's light body into the machine. The blades cut through her skin and had blood stains on them. Musume's body was full of scars and wounds. After she landed in the bottom she thrusted her arms and legs, only to be penetrating herself even more.

With that, Ayano slammed the lid down and shut the machine. She bent over, pressed the activate button and heard the sounds of the saws inside the machine spinning and cutting. The gruesome noises of both the girl's useless screams and her flesh being sliced through pleased Ayano's ears. While waiting, she pulled out her cellphone and selected Info-chan's contact name. There were two unread messages.

"You've been busy," and "I need some more exciting news. Speed up, client."

Ayano rolled her eyes at this sadistic, perverted girl. She decided to ignore her and selected the contact without a name. It was Musume's father's number. She pressed the text box and typed, "I have your daughter with me. Meet me at the restaurant that was shut down three months ago in Shisuta Town."When the message was sent, she stuffed her phone back into her pocket.

Hearing that the noises from the machine is starting to slow down, she quickly grabbed the bucket that was next to it and placed it beneath the tube that's connected to the machine. Red blood poured out from the tube and splashed into the blue plastic bucket. It filled up the entirety of it. Ayano was pleased to not see any parts of flesh or bones in the product.

Time to serve her customer.

.

.

.

The room of the meeting destination used to be a fast food restaurant in Shisuta Town, but because of unknown reasons, the owner abandoned it, and later it was torn down. The only things left were the tables with no tablecloths, chairs, and the dull, gray walls in the hollow room that created echoes. It looked very similar to Ayano's basement.

The door clicked open and creaked as it was pushed open, revealing a tall, burly man with dark skin and blonde hair. Darling Musume really resembled her father's looks.

Ronshaku's face was covered in sweat, and his hands were colder than before he came here. He balled them into a fist to calm himself down and walked over to one of the tables with the only two chairs across from each other. It was placed in the center of the small room. He gulped and he breathed, hearing footsteps walking towards him.

"Welcome, my dear," said a spine-chilling, feminine voice from behind.

Ronshaku jumped a little from the sudden sound, but swallowed to keep his posture. He closed his eyes and asked without turning around, "I'm here...where's my daughter...?"

A laughter was heard. He hated the feelings he received from it so much.

Ayano walked in front of him and stood there with a smug grin. She was holding two wine glasses, inside of them was red liquid. Ronshaku would assume it was red wine.

"You can open your eyes now, dear," Ayano said.

He did so. He lifted his eyelids slowly and carefully. That split second, many thoughts rushed into his mind. What if the kidnapper was someone he knew? What if it was one of his clients taking revenge on him? What did a mere woman want from his precious daughter?

His irises shrunk when he saw the charcoal-haired girl in a school uniform standing in front of him.

"You...you..." his voice was stuck in his throat. More sweat rolled down.

The ends of Ayano's mouth tugged into a smirk. She set the glasses of wine on the table carefully, one in front of Ronshaku and one in front of herself. Then she sat down and dragged the seat forward a few steps to be closer to the table.

"What's the matter? Cat got your tongue?" Ayano asked.

"You...you..." Ronshaku's conscience came back, "You...you! You're wearing...the same uniform as my daughter! You must be from her school!"  
Ayano smiled and placed her elbow on the table and put her head in her hand to support it. "Indeed I am."

"YOU ARE A STUDENT FROM HER SCHOOL! WHAT DID MY DAUGHTER EVER DO TO YOU, TO MAKE YOU USE SUCH A VENOMOUS WAY TO TREAT HER, TO TORTURE HER?! WHERE IS SHE, WHERE DID YOU PUT HER?!" Ronshaku stood up and slammed his fists on the table. The sound echoed in the room.

After a moment of silence, Ayano chuckled softly and lowered her head with her eyes closed. "That won't do it, Mr. Ronshaku. After all, we haven't even introduced ourselves, yet. Have a seat."

Ronshaku's teeth clenched tightly. Veins popped on his forehead and the back of his hands. "You...you...!"

"I'm waiting."

Though he wanted to lash out at her, Ronshaku decided against it and sat back down, letting out a deep sigh.

Ayano pulled out her phone and turned it on, then scrolled through and searched for something. She set her phone on the table, and a beautiful melody from a piano played.

 _"If I could have one wish granted..."  
"I would want wings."_

The pleasant and soft voice of a woman played along with the music.

Ronshaku looked at her phone with a slightly shocked look. "This song...is 'Give Me Wings,' isn't it?"

"I'm pleased to see someone knows this song," Ayano stated. "Now...let's discuss things slowly. My name is Ayano Aishi. I am from Akademi High School, just like Ronshaku-senpai. You see, I always told myself...I should come out of my...corner, and start socializing. I did, or...I tried." She reached out and picked up her glass of wine and shook it lightly, watching the drink spin in the glass without spilling out, but she didn't drink any.

 _"On my back, as on a bird's..."  
"Please give me white wings."  
_  
"Why do I have to know this...? I want my daughter. I want to see my daughter."

Ayano ignored him and continued, "At first, it was refreshing. I talked for the first time, and I heard my own voice saying things I never knew I could say out loud. It was fun. But slowly, it wasn't fun anymore... I came to realization that humans are all the same. They give you smiles if you compliment them, they pretend to be modest, and they only like to hear positive things about themselves. I found out that I never got to talk about what I felt inside with anyone... All of them. All of them only care about themselves. They leave you if you say the truth. Just like a couple...the boy will refrain from jumping on the girl and keep his lewd thoughts away, while the girl has been waiting to be jumped on."

For some reason, Ronshaku felt uneasy with this conversation.  
 _  
"I want to spread my wings to the sky and fly away!"  
"To the free sky, where there is no sadness."  
"I want to flap my wings...and go there..."  
_  
The first verse ended. A little bit of piano instrumental played for a few seconds.

"Don't you understand, Mr. Ronshaku?" Ayano leaned forward on the table with her wine still in hand. "This world...this world is just full of lies! Can you see? When was the last time someone protested in front of you, huh? When was the last time a client spoke out their feelings in front of you, huh?! Why can't you just acknowledge the fact that everyone in this world is just cowards under that mask they're wearing?!"

"I..."

 _"The dreams I dreamed in childhood..."  
"Even now, I still dream."  
_  
Another moment of silence fell. Ayano sighed and sat back down. She adjusted her bangs and put on her smile again, "My apologies, that was rude of me."

"I'm...still not sure why you told me that. I'm only here for my daughter. Tell me, where is Musume?" Seeing that she didn't replay, Ronshaku crinkled his eyebrows and slammed his hand on the table again, "I'm going to ask again. Where is my daughter?!"

"Calm down...before we get to that, why don't we have a little drink?" Ayano used her free hand and pointed four fingers at his glass of wine. "Go ahead, it has quite a nice taste."

Even though he was afraid there might be poison in it, he felt very thirsty, especially in his dry throat. If anything happened, he can simply dial the police's number. He reached out a trembling, cold hand and grabbed the handle of the glass. Then he lifted it up and brought it to his mouth, letting the red liquid fall coat his tongue. He stopped and put it back down, and he pondered a little.

"I want to spread my wings to the sky and fly away!"

"This...tastes really strange... There's a metallic taste in it..." he trailed off and his irises shrunk.

"Correct. It is exactly...the blood of your dearest daughter."

 _"To the free sky, where there is no sadness."_

Ayano suddenly flipped the table over, throwing away her own glass of blood and causing Ronshaku to jump back and drop his. The smell of blood made him nauseous. From the bottom of the table, Ayano pulled out a circular saw and turned it on. The sharp, frightening blade spun and cut through air. She stood up with a twisted smile and grabbed the saw with both hands. She stepped one foot on the edge of the fallen table and helped herself jump up, hovering right above the loan shark.

One second, he heard his own heartbeat.

"In this vast sky, I want to spread my wings...and fly away!"

Two seconds, he knew this is where he ends.  
 _  
"To the free sky, where there is no sadness."_

Three seconds...

 _"I want to flap my wings!"_

With a clean slash from right to left, Ayano swung the saw and sliced his head off swiftly. His head flew across the room and hit a wall, splattering blood all over the wall and floor.

 _"In this vast sky, I want to spread my wings...and fly away!"_

"To the free sky, where there is no sadness..."

"...and fly away..."

Ayano went over to the other side and picked up her phone from the floor. Blood smeared all over it from her hands. She turned off her phone and shoved it back into her pocket. Then she lifted her arm and wiped the blood and sweat from her forehead, looking at her surroundings. All she could think of right now was the trouble people would have to go through to clean the mess up in the morning.

She sighed with a smile and walked out of the area.

.

.

.

The next morning, Ayano decided to return to Kokona Haruka's tombstone, because she knew for sure who would be there.

It was very silent. The only sounds she could hear were her footsteps in the crunchy grass, but she knew that nature was not pitying the loan shark scumbags. They didn't deserve it.

Before she realized, she's already arrived at her destination. Just as she expected, Kokona Haruka's father stood right before her grave, mourning over her worthless life and death. He wore the same black suit like last time, but today he brought a hat. He had his hat in both of his hands, holding it right in front of his stomach. His head was lowered, and his hair covered his eyes.

Ayano approached him, purposefully creating louder footsteps so he would notice her. He did. He turned his head towards her, then he came back to his mind and quickly wiped his eyes and put his hat back on.

"Good morning, young lady," he greeted, his nose still a little stuffed from crying.

"Good morning, Mr. Haruka," Ayano greeted back.

Mr. Haruka took a few steps back to give her some space. Ayano walked forward and looked at the tombstone. Kokona's father must've added a photo just recently. The picture wasn't here last time. It showed Kokona's angelic smile and lively eyes. Even though it's in black and white, the photo seemed so colorful.

"Haruka-senpai...was a great person," Ayano said.

"Hah...yeah..." Mr. Haruka replied sadly. "I miss her so much. She helped me through so much troubles and wouldn't let me know any pain she's going through... Oh, right, speaking of this, yesterday late at night, the news said they found the corpse of the loan shark that's been shadowing over me. His head was cut off and...oh, this just ruins the beautiful day, doesn't it? I'm sorry."

"At least Haruka-senpai can rest in peace now, knowing that the one she's trying to protect is free."

"I hope so... I suppose the entire school knows about our story already. But right now, I'm still wondering...who would do such a thing to the Ronshaku family? I admit he's a terrible man, but...doing that is a little overboard, isn't it?"

Ayano chuckled, confusing Mr. Haruka.

"Pardon me, did I say anything funny?"

Ayano nodded and replied with a grin, "You certainly did, sir."

"I did? Do enlighten me, please."

Before replying, Ayano remained silent for a while. She lifted her head and looked at Mr. Haruka with her hollow, dull eyes, who felt a little taken aback from her stare.

"You know...leaving you alive is too much of a risk," she stated.

"W-What...?"

Ayano drew out a knife from her skirt behind and launched herself at the taller, older man, who was paralyzed from the complete shock. Before he knew, a the blade of the knife pierced through his skin and flesh, impaling the exact center of his gut. Ayano then twisted the weapon, creating a larger wound, cutting through his body more and giving him endless pain.

"Why...you..." the man's irises trembled, staring at the knife inside him. Slowly, his eyes rolled up, and he fell down, landing on his back. Dust flew from the impact of his fall.

"How weak..." Ayano said with a bored look. She raised the knife and wiped the blood from the blade with her pointer and middle finger. "I would've thought you'd see this coming. I think I did you a favor. I ended your pain for you, and you don't have to go through regrets and hesitations of suicide."

"Gh...ah...hh..." He used all of his strength to lift an arm and tried to reach her, but black spots appeared in his vision, eventually dragging his eyelids down, putting him into eternal sleep. The one with nightmares only, of course. His hand dropped back down on the ground.

His red blood seeped into the dirt, joining his daughter's corpse.

Ayano turned her heels and headed towards the exit, her knife still in hand.

"If I could have one wish granted..." she hummed to herself with a smile. Her eyes glistened under the sun.

Maybe one day, she would also grow a pair of white wings and fly away from this hellish world, bringing Taro with her.

* * *

 **A/N: Edited by CheshireCatSam from Wattpad. This is such a disappointing chapter. It was a lot cooler in my mind... I wanna cry. Oh well. Also, the part where Ayano plays the song lyrics, it's from the song used in the promo concept, "Tsubasa wo Kudasai." I just used the English translation.**


	9. AUTHOR'S NOTE!

**IMPORTANT NOTICE!**

Hello, I am the writer of this...pile of mess, and because of reasons such as regretting ideas and change of plans, I decided to discontinue this version of "Mask." I have posted a rewrite, where you can find simply by clicking on my profile and scroll down...and it will definitely be edgier and more violent, but also more romantic, if you're into both like me...

I am very sorry for such a long wait...it's been an eternity, I know, I know, and both school and writer's block have basically ripped me apart. Right now it's Monday, November 20, 2017, and I basically have this entire week off for Thanksgiving. My lovely teachers decided to assign me more than 5 projects to do. THANKS, TEACHERS, I WILL TOTALLY ENJOY MY BREAK AND GET ENOUGH REST.

For the rewrite, it will contain very heavy subjects that are highly disturbing, such as depression, EXTREMELY graphic violence, and others. If you are uncomfortable with those, then...viewer discretion advised. On top of those, character development is also a main focus. I find the way Yandere-chan can't even talk to or be near Senpai really difficult to follow, because...what kind of shoujo cuteness can be found between two characters that never interact? That's why Ayano will be able to talk to Senpai, talk to the rivals that are right next to Senpai, and basically fake emotions like a pro. Rivals will all be 2nd years/17 years old (except Hanako Yamada, 1st year/16 years old) unless the Wikia says otherwise. The plot will have references from YandereDev's videos, other let's players, and from conversations with friends.

Thank you for understanding, and I hope to see you again on the new, official version of "Mask!"

~Me


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